NaruHina The Pain Aftermath
by Zorback32
Summary: In this fanfic, it is an alternate universe where Hinat plays a bigger role in the story and Naruto may or may not realize how important she is. Hey guys this is my first time writing a fanfic, and i know the Manga is over and so forth but i figured what the heck? i have to wait a few months to watch the last anyway might as well get my mind off it. All advice and is welcome
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Unrest.

Hinata drew a big sigh as she walked back to the Hyuuga complex, she was happy Naruto had defeated Pain and was now recognized by the village but…"Does he even remember what I said?" She blushed a little at the thought. "neh he is a knuckle head and dense to a fault, but that's why I love him…" she felt a tear run down her cheek, even after saving his life at nearly the cost of her own, he still only thought about Sakura it nearly broke her heart. However she remained hopeful the future was not set in stone, "maybe just maybe..." She was quickly brought back to reality when she bumped into Neji and she fell full on her back.

"Owe Neji I'm sorry!" she got quickly to her feet and tried brushing of the dust on her cousins shoulders, but Neji would have none of that. "Lady Hinata I am fine, I live to serve you not the other way around please don't allow yourself trouble on my account." He got to his own feet and forcibly, but also gently pulled her from her kneeling position. " n-no I want to help you, you're my- she was cut off by a wave of his hand. "That's not really what's on your mind is it Hinata-sama?" She was caught, not that she was surprised Nejeie always had a knack for knowing what she was thinking. She burst into tears and hugged her cousin and started beating his chest with her fists, sobbing uncontrollably. "Why Neji? Why won't he look at me? Why why why?" Neji knew exactly what and who "He" meant. Delicately he held his sobbing cousin in his arms and stroked her long midnight hair. "Lady Hinata if you wish it I will pound some sense into that hyper active ninja till he never wants to leave your side." Hinata continued to cry but was touched by Nejis concern, she wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "N-no I want him to see me without force, bu-but I thought after I confessed he would…" she felt even more tears coming and quickly turned away. "I'm sorry I have to go." Then running as fast as her legs would carry her she went to her room and let the tears flow freely repeating over and over and over " Naruto-Kun…"

Neji stood there as he watched Hinata run and caught a glimpse of silver tears until she turned the corner to the main branch and disappeared. As soon as he was sure she was gone, he summoned the anger he had and yelled "GentalFist 64 Palms!" suffice it to say the side branch later had to order repairs on the bath house, but Neji did not care he would pay it back in time. Neji knew Naruto was dense and he actually kind of liked that about him, but this was just too much. Angrily he headed off to the village to find Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji. He even considered finding Lee but then he pictured the whole "Tears of YOUTH!" and decided against it. The village was still having work being done to fix it up after Pains attack but for the most part life seemed to return to normal in a few short weeks, even the shopping district was up and running again. He managed to find Shikamaru lying under a tree in the low hanging afternoon almost asleep but not quite. He did not talk to Shikamaru all that often so he simply went up to him and said "we need to talk." Shikamaru opened one eye in suspicion, but when he saw the killing intent in Nejis eyes he put his laziness on hold and said "about?" to which Neji replied, "a certain hyperactive ninja." Shikamaru sighed his usual self returning to his comfort zone. "That guy is always causing trouble what a drag." Never the less he got up and just looked to Neji to lead the way. They walked for a few minutes before finding Choji and Kiba at the market apparently arguing over what kind of chips to buy. Neji grabbed them both by the collar and dragged them out of the store chipless, much to their dismay. They all gathered at the training ground Kiba grumbling about spicy flavor as Choji pulled his spare out of his pocket. Shikamaru looked at Neji with a look that said "now, would you mind telling me why you interrupted my nap?" Kiba however was the first to speak up and said "where are the girls and Naruto?" Neji answered his question with a trembling voice that would send shivers down anyone's spine "Because it about that asshole…"

As for that hyperactive ninja, he was at Ichiraku's enjoying his favorite ramen, and free of charge no less for being the Hero of the Leaf. He was not thinking about anything particular when Kakashi appeared next to him absorbed in his usual perverted book. "Agggg Kakashi-sensei don't just paper out of nowhere like that!" shouted Naaruto as his precious Raman spilled onto his lap and began to burn his legs with a vengeance. "Yaowwwwwwwwwwwww!" Kakashi did not even bother to leave his gaze from his book, the matter usually settled after a few minutes, so what was the point? After buying Naruto a new bowl of ramen for his lost one Kakashi said "Nartuo I'm not here on pleasure, you might want to hold your ramen down for this." Naruto detected the hint of urgency in Kakashis voice and quickly downed the ramen and waited. "Danzo has been temporarily named Hokage until Lady Tsunade recovers. Naruto was not particularly surprised they needed a replacement while granny recovered but he had no idea who this Danzo guy was. "Ok was that all you needed to tell me? Cause granny will be back in no time so I don't really care who this Danzo guy is." Kakashi sighed, the news he was about to tell Naruto even put a bad taste in his own mouth. " Danzo has labeled Sasuke as a rouge ninja and has ordered him to be killed on site. Naruto's eyes widened in both shock and rage when he heard the news. "For what? He made no attempt on the Leaf and has not done anything wrong!"

"That's where you're wrong Naruto, he attempted to kidnap the Hidden Clouds Jinchuriki, as a member of the Akatsuki. So in order to avoid a war the Leaf has offered to help the Cloud in taking Sasuke down." Naruto let the news sink in, "Sasuke an Akatsuki?" The idea was absurd why would he join an organization that Itchie was in? "I'll go talk to this Danzo guy and beg him to reconsider, if not I'll MAKE him reconsider." Kakashi held his student in place, "It won't do you any good, Danzo has left the Leaf for a 5 Kage summit meeting in the Land of Iron." Naruto thought for a moment. "Then I'll go talk to the Raikage and ask him to stop chasing Sasuke whatever it takes." Kakashi knew arguing would do no good when it came to Sasuke so he simply said, "Fine but me and Yamato will come with you so you don't do anything stupid, we can't afford a war with the Cloud." Naruto nodded to his Sensei and began to walk home to pack for tomorrow, oblivious of the sadness and anger he had no idea he was causing to a certain Midnight haired Hyuuga who cried herself to sleep that night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Old Wounds**

Hinata opened her eyes, bright sunlight lit up her room. She went to rub her eyes and found that they were still moist. "_I'm still such a cry baby after all," _She thought. Trying not to think about Naruto, she got up and went and splashed some water on her face and got ready for the day. With any luck, keeping busy would drown her sorrows, and she could get back to appreciating simply being to watch Naruto at a distance. Then walking out of the Hyuuga complex she went to find Kiba and Shino for the day's mission.

Naruto had his gear packed and was waiting impatiently for Kakashi and Yamato. He had considered telling Sakura what he had learned last night, but Kakashi had advised against it. "If you tell her she will want to come along and only put herself in danger," he had said. Naruto felt bad for not telling her, but he would never jeopardize Sakura's safety. He could not bear the thought of losing both his teammates. Just at that moment Kakashi and Yamato showed up also caring packs that could last for a few days. "About time you two showed up," he said in an annoyed voice.

"Sorry about that Naruto we had to tell the other team leaders to make up some excuse for why Kakashi, you and I, just up and decided to take a field day to the Land of Iron," Yamato replied. "Well that and we had to pack for a few days, it's not like this will be a one day trip," said Kakashi as he eyed Naruto rather lame excuse of a travel pack. Naruto did not say anything; his mind was too absorbed in his own thoughts. He simply nodded and raced ahead, not even bothering to see if his mentors were fallowing. "Sasuke I will bring you back!"

Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were all busy going through Lady Tsunade's large pile of paper work which included the ever so present letter of someone she obviously lost a bet to. Sakura wiped her forehead, the day had been the same temperature for summer, but the extra work helping the comatose Hokage was beginning to wear her down. "That's it! Time for a break!" she shouted. Ino and Tenten looked up, Sakura was not the one to call for a break, that was usually Tenten's job, however they did not object. The extra work obviously was showing on them as well. "Oh and what did you have in mind billboard brow?" Ino said in her sarcastic tone. "Hmmm ya know I was actually thinking we could cook you pig, but your obviously damaged goods," Sakura retorted. Tenten just sighed, she knew where this was going and was considering leaving before she got involved when she heard a little voice pipe from the doorway. "I-I'm, here for my mission!" It was obviously Hinata with her regular shy self tapping her pointer fingers together as she waited for a reply. This made Ino and Sakura stop in their tracks, nobody liked fighting in front of Hinata, as they always felt really bad afterwards when they saw her concerned look.

"Oh Hinata, there really is just a bunch of paper work today so it looks like you have the day off, and we were just about to go get lunch want to come?" Tenten asked. Hinata's face lit up, "Uh sure if it wouldn't be a bother," she said nervously. "No bother at all!" Ino said with a big grin on her face, "it's on Sakura!" Teneten had to hold Sakura back for fear poor Hinata might be a casualty of her rage she was emitting to Ino. They left the mission room and headed into to town, looking for a nice place to grab a bite. They soon settled on a nice Sushi joint in the middle of the shopping complex. After ordering their lunch, they began chatting and gossiping, ya know girl stuff. Hinata felt as if a huge weight had been lifted, she was not thinking about Naruto at all, her mind happily occupied by being with her friends. It was short lived however when a ruff looking man, a jounin by the look of it, ruined everything. "I don't care if he saved the village, that dam fox boy destroyed it once already so this should just be our payment for putting up with him!" Hinata froze her face turned a deadly pale; the other girls could see the tears forming in her eyes. _"Why?" she thought. "After saving their lives, and families, how can they still say that about Naruto-Kun?" _She buried her face in her arms and wept; at least thanking whatever gods there may or may not be Naruto was not around.

Sakura, Ino and Tenten looked at the poor girl weeping for Narutos sake in a public environment, it was unbearable to watch. Sakura her head steaming from her own anger at the man's words, walked over and said, "you jackass." The punch connected with the man's jaw and he flew a distance that would make a well aimed kunai throw look bad. "Get out of my store you bitch!" said the shop owner. Sakura reached into her pocket pulling out several pieces of money and shouted "Keep the tip!" and smashed the paying counter to smithereens. She, Ino and Tenten, the ladder trying to comfort the still crying Hinata, left soon after. When they had came to the park they tried again and again to make her feel better, but nothing worked. She cried until she screamed, and fainted. Sakura looked at Ino and Tenten. "Take her home will ya? I'm going to go find Naruto." They nodded and together, supporting the limp girl on their shoulders began to take her home. _"Naruto I'm going to kick your ass." _ She thought to herself.

The Night before

"What do you mean asshole Neji?" If it were not for Naruto, everyone in the village would be dead!" Kiba said gritting his teeth, Akamaru let out a very distinctive growl in agreement. "I know that, but why do you think he was able to beat Pain? From where I stood he had those rods pinning him to the ground helpless, until Lady Hinata jumped in." Kiba stopped in his tracks, he had been about to punch Neji but those last words stopped him. "What's this have to do with Hinata Neji?" said a low sounding voice behind him. Had Kiba not been as close as he was, Neji would have most likely sent Shino on a one way trip to a rehab center. "Baka Shino! Don't sneak up like that!" said Neji. "I didn't I simply saw you guys walking here and decided to fallow since you forgot me again." Neji could not deny that, he had totally spaced on getting Shino, who had every right to be there as he was Hinata's teammate. "You should also know I brought- "Howl YOUTH!" and there was Rock Lee jumping in and shouting about youth again. Neji slapped his forehead, "fine fine now that we are all here can I continue?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as if to say "Nothing would please me more, the faster this drag is over the better."

"Good now as I was saying, it was Lady Hinata who jumped in to save Naruto, and because of that, the nine-tails was able to bust Naruto free and then Naruto somehow got control again." "So you're saying Naruto only won because Hinata was able to trigger the nine-tails rage?" said Shikamaru in his questioning voice. "That's exactly what I'm saying." said Neji without hesitation. Shikamaru hated thinking about these things it was such a drag, Kiba scratched his head wondering what to say next. Shino emitted a buzzing like sound none of his bugs could imitate; Lee was saying something about youth. It was then that Choji spoke up, "So what are ya saying Neji?" chips continually going into his mouth even while talking. "Naruto never talked with Hinata after that fight did he?" it was Kiba. For being as near as dense as Naruto, when it came to Hinata he was not a total idiot. Everyone looked up at that, Lee stopped his youth speech, even Choji stopped stuffing himself. "How is Hinata taking it?" this time it was Shino. "She is losing her will to go on, each and every day, I may have Beyagugan but even my eyes don't need that to see how much pain she is in." "That idiot!" shouted Kiba punching a nearby training dummy. "Should we go and confront Naruto about it?" surprisingly it was Lee, and he completed a sentence without using youth. "Hinata wants Naruto to see her himself doesn't she?" not surprisingly it was Shikamaru this time, who had obviously fit all the pieces together being the smartest of the group. "That's right, we can't force him, it would not help Lady Hinata at all," Neji replied. "Then we get him to see her." He answered back. "How?" asked Kiba, at this point wanting to rip Narutos head off. "By making him unable to avoid her, here is the plan…"

Sakura went to Narutos apartment and finding it empty, went to look for Captain Yamato or Kakashi –Sensei. Having no luck finding them either she was wondering around when she bumped into Sai. "Oh hello Sakura." He said with the creepy smile of his. "Hey Sai, I don't suppose you know where Captain Yamato, Kakashi-Sensei, or Naruto is do you?" "You mean they did not tell you?" "Tell me what?" Sai then explained about Sasuke being an official criminal, and how the trio had set out to meet with the Raikage. "WHAAATTTTTT?!" she was so angry she pushed Sai aside and headed straight for the Hokage mansion when she was halted by Neji, who explained their plan to her. She nodded and said, "Get everyone together there is something we all have to agree on as well."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Hidden Truths, Obvious Lies.**

Sakura waited for Neji to gather the rest of the Konoha 11. She had already explained the situation to Ino and Tenten, but decided to let Neji find the boys and Hinata. As of the moment, she, Ino, Tenten, and Sai were located at an abandoned supply storage not saying anything. Ino and Tenten were wondering why so soon after Hinata's emotional breakdown, Sakura would want everyone to meet up, and Sai was trying to figure out what Sakura had planned, besides the fact he knew it had to do with Sasuke and Naruto.

"Aggg what a drag. Why the sudden interest in group meetings of late?" Sakura lifted her gaze from the ground, as she had been deep in thought, and saw Shikamru, Neji, Choji, Kiba, Shino and Lee enter the building. For once everyone but Neji seemed to agree, Lee was saying something about youthful training, Kiba looked like he wanted to tear a few necks out, and Choji was asking for some lunch. Since Sakura had already explained part of what she knew to Neji he just seemed curious. Shino, Sakura could not tell what that guy was thinking what with his hood and sunglasses blocking any sort of emotion she could see. "Where is Hinata?" she asked. "I-I'm here!" Sakura looked again and saw that Hinata had been hiding behind the others and seemed like she was just dragging herself along. Sakura could see that she had not fully gotten over the lunch incident, and why should she? It had only been 8 hours ago and night had fallen so she was obviously tired. As much as Sakura wanted to consol the young Hyuuga priorities were priorities. "Ok, is everyone here?" she asked. Everyone nodded.

"Before we start, could someone explain to me why he is here?" Kiba growled motioning to Sai. "That's not important, Kiba." Shino said with a slight bit of cold in his words. "Sakura obviously thinks he is needed so that's all there is to it." Sakura was glad she did not have to explain Sai's attendance, everyone had accepted the fact he was part of the group, but they still did not trust him fully yet. Turning to Shakura he continued, "Now if you could please fill us in as to why we are here." Shikamaru again putting 2 and 2 togeather when it came to Sakura said, "It's about Sasuke isn't it?" "Actually yes." said Sai the weird smile of his showing boldly on his face. Sakura heard some knuckles crack and saw Kiba with an annoyed look on his faced. "Sakura we know that your all baby eyed for him, but now is really not a time to tell us about your love life." he said. Sakura felt her blood boil; she walked over to Kiba and clasping her hands together, brought them down on his head with the force of a rather large mallet. "That's not the reason dumbass!" she yelled. When the dust settled Kiba was dazed and was stuck very firmly in the ground, only his head showed.

"She is right, the reason she called you here is because Sasuke has been named a rouge ninja with a bounty on his head, and is to be killed on site." Sai said this and his smile had disappeared to be replaced by the cold emotionless face they had first met him with. Everyone stopped what they were doing when they heard that, even Hinata was snapped back to reality with a small squeak. "Why would they put Sasuke on the rouge ninja list?" asked Shikamru, his normal laziness ceased. Even though Sakura had intended to explain, she felt better that Sai did, the thought of Sasuke being a criminal was almost overwhelming. After Sai had finished everyone stood there, not knowing what to say next. Everyone had believed that once Sasuke had taken care of Itchie he would come back eventually, but for him to know be in the same organization? It did not make any sense. "So what can we do about it? It's not like Lady Tsunade is just going to wake up in time before someone from the Cloud or Leaf gets him." This time it was Choji, for always thinking about food, at times he seemed smarter than Kiba and Naruto combined. "That's not what we are going for." said Sakura. "Sasuke is our classmate; it's up to us to deal with him." "Sakura, the way you say that, it sounds as if you're suggesting we kill him." Ino said this, and knowing that she loved Sasuke as well, Sakura was not surprised to see tears forming in her eyes. Sakura nodded, "That's all that can be done." Lee spoke up this time, "Naruto will never agree to this." "Lee is right, Naruto would rather die then give up on Sasuke." said Neji, who had been deep in thought. "Then we don't tell him, we have to take care of this ourselves." Sakura replied. Hinata who had been listening very intently through the whole thing said, "We can't keep this from Naruto, he would never forgive us." The thought of Naruto never being able to forgive her, affected her more than the rest. "But if we let him continue chasing Sasuke, and someone else does it, he won't be able to forgive himself, it would destroy him." Sakura said. Nobody argued at that, they all knew Naruto considered Sasuke to be more than just a friend, and if he failed because some ANBU killed Sasuke, he would live out the rest of his life blaming himself. Shikamaru leaned back against a crate and said, "Then it's time we vote. Anyone opposed?" Kiba stood there gritting his teeth; Lee had both of his massive eyebrows so close together it looked like a small animal on his forehead. Shino also leaning against a crate just stood there, bug noises emitting from his person like an angry hive. Ino had tears running down her cheek, and Hinata was holding her close. Sai sat where he was emotionless, black eyes staring at Sakura. Tenten looked to Neji as if he had some answer, but all he said was, "Then what do you propose?" Sakura then explained her plan.

Naruto ran like he had never ran before, jumping from tree to tree at top speed. He had lost sight of Yamato and Kakashi, but knew they could not be far behind. He soon found that the trees had vanished, only to be replaced by a long valley of snow. All of a sudden he heard a voice say "Halt and sate your business." Two ninja appeared in front of him along with a massive man who were nothing but a white kimono openly and showing his enormous pecks and chest. The other two ninja seemed to be his body guards, though Naruto doubted a man this size needed protection. Just then Yamato and Kakashi showed up and Yamato said "Lord Raikage, we are ninja from the Hidden Leaf, and we only ask a few minutes of your time." The giant man scoffed, "Make it quick I have to get to the summit before nightfall, and I am not a patient man." Naruto, getting his thoughts together, fell to his knees and begged, "Please call off your hunt for Sasuke Uchia!" The Raikage looked at him dumbfounded; he had expected any number of questions, but not this. "And why should I? He attacked the Cloud and tried to kidnap our Jinchuriki, causing some major damage to our village. He is a criminal and must be dealt with." "No your wrong Sasuke is my friend, and he would never do something like that, please calls off your search ill do anything!" The Raikage looked at the boy in front of him, what was his connection between Sasuke Uchia, and why did he care so much? "Sasuke will be hunted down and killed and there is nothing you can do to stop it, your naïve boy, friendship does not matter in this world, hatred and power is all this world cares about, its time you understand that." "Then I'll fight that hatred! I'll fight that power! I'll never give up on Sasuke, please let me take care of him." "Move aside boy, or I'll kill you along with Sasuke then you can see how far your friendship will go when I ring his neck." That was the first time the Raikage actually regretted what he had said. Nearly as fast as the fourth hokage, Naruto launched at him with a tremendous force and connected a rasnagan right with his face. "Don't you ever threaten Sasuke again!" The Raikage felt himself flying back into the field and slammed into the ground. "So you want to fight boy? Good show me your convection!" he waved off his guards and retailed with his own punch that connected with Narutos stomach. At first it looked like the boy was out cold but suddenly a red cloak enveloped him and Naruto grabbed the Raikages arm spun around, and lunched him like a discus at his two men. "Yamato!" Kakashi yelled. "I know and flying at Naruto they began to restrain him while trying to get the nine-tails under control. The Raikage seeing that the fight was over, brushed himself off, and said to himself, "hope you never meet me again boy." He and his men then disappeared beyond the trees.

Naruto woke up in a dark room, his stomach felt like he had been hit with a branding iron mixed with a sludge hammer. Groggily he got up put on his cloak and was going to find his mentors when he heard a voice behind him. "Long time no see Naruto." Naruto spun around and saw, "Tobi! What do you want?" "Oh nothing just came by to tell you, Sasuke attacked the 5 kage summit." Something was different about Tobi, his voice was deeper, and there was a dark aura about him that Naruto could not shake. "You're lying! Sasuke has- "Oh but he does have reason to go there, after all it was Danzo who made Itchie kill off his clan." Just then Tobi was caught in Yamatos wood style prison, and Kakashi had his chidori at his neck. "Oh look the chivalry is here, then I suppose you don't want to know why Sasuke went rouge do you?" Kakashi lowered his hand, "Fine tell us what you know then we are taking you to the Leaf for trail." He said. "Hmph we shall see, but as I was saying, Itchie was ordered by Danzo and the rest of the Leaf officials to kill his clan." "Why would the Leaf want to kill the Uchia?" Kakashi asked. "Its simple really." Tobi replied. "The Uchia were planning a coup d'état, they felt that they were being unfairly treated by the Leaf. Eventually the Leaf realized that things could not be solved peacefully and if the village was busy attacking themselves, it would leave them open to attacks from other nations." Naruto was shocked of course, but "Why did Sasuke turn against the Leaf?" he asked. "You're not very bright are you? He wants to destroy the village that caused his brother and his clan so much grief." Suddenly everything made sense to Naruto, and it hit him like a punch to the gut. "I still will save Sasuke!" "From what exactly? His revenge? You don't seem to realize Sasuke is an avenger, and he has gone down this path on his own accord, there is nothing you can do." And with that, he seemingly disappeared. "Dam it! Yamato exclaimed he got away." Kakashi looked at Naruto. And was about to say something when Hinata, Sakura, Kiba, and Sai came from the outside. "Naruto, Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura said. "Ahhh Sakura I'm sorry I did not tell you please don't hit me!" Naruto covered His head expecting the blow any minute but it never came. "I'm not mad I came here for another reason." Naruto saw Sakura's head was down, her pink hair covering her eyes. "Sakura- Suddenly Sakura hugged Naruto, and said, "I came to tell you I love you!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Hate and Sacrifice.**

Everyone stood there dumb founded, Kakashi and Yamato looked at Sakura with suspicion but did not do much else. Sai also looked at Sakura but he again was emotionless, unable to be read. Kiba growled clenching his fits but said nothing. Hinata turned away tears forming in her eyes, _"it's over, Naruto will surely get with Sakura now and I'll never walk beside him." _she thought. She wanted to run, scream, do anything but could not bring herself to do so. All she could manage was look away while events unfolded. Kiba was thinking to himself as well, _"dam it Sakura what are you thinking? Saying that in front of Hinata."_ But he just kept clenching his fists saying nothing. "What did you say Sakura?" asked Naruto pushing her away. Sakura looked at him and said "I said, I love you Naruto." "I heard you but is that really all you came here to tell me?" Sakura started looking a little annoyed but kept her composer, "Well ya, when I heard you went after Sasuke and that Sasuke had went rouge, I could not hold it in any longer." Naruto's face suddenly turned angry, "Knock it off Sakura, this joke is not funny!" he said. Hinata stooped crying and turned to face the spectacle daring to hope for what she hoped was true. Sakura looked taken aback but stood her ground. "I'm not joking Naruto, after I learned Sasuke had gone rouge, I realized who was always there for me, and who truly cared for me, I don't care about Sasuke anymore." Hinata was clasping her hands togeather looking from Naruto to Sakura and back to Naruto silently praying for anything. "And why should I care for him? He always rejected me, and now I know he is never coming back, I thought it was time to grow up. You don't have to chase Sasuke for me anymore, just come back to the village." Naruto grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes, "I hate people, who lie to themselves." he said. The words hit home, Hinata could not help but turn away and smile a little bit, Kiba breathed a sigh of relief, Yamato Kakashi and Sai just stood there their expressions unchanged. Sakura looked down and said, "Fine keep chasing Sasuke, chase him until you die, see what I care." She turned around and run off into the distance. Kiba nodded and bounded after here, Sai bowed his head a little and fallowed as well. Hinata however stood for a moment, as if she wanted to say something, but shook her head blushed when Naruto looked at her and quickly ran after the others.

Naruto watched as they left then turning to the wall he punched it with all his might. "Dam it sakura what the hell was that?" "I think I can answer that." Naruto turned around and saw that Sai had comeback. "No Naruto that's not Sai, its just a clone." Said Kakashi. "He is right I could not come here in person or I would have aroused Sakura's suspicions." Said the clone. "Sai could you explain what this is all about?" asked Yamato. "Its worse than you think." Said the clone. "Sai you better start talking I'm in an extremely foul mood don't test me." said Naruto. "Sai took a breath and said, "Sakura is planning to kill Sasuke." Nobody spoke, nobody moved, the air itself seemed to stop, the color drained from everything in sight. "Why would she want to kill Sasuke? She loves him!" said Naruto grabbing Sai or rather the clone by the collar. "Naruto Calm down, and let him go." Said Kakashi putting his hands on Narutos shoulders. "It's because she loves him that she does this, she does not want to see Sasuke travel any further into darkness, and she does not want you to get dragged into that darkness by chasing him." Naruto looked like he wanted to hit himself, "So that's why she said she loves me." "Yes to keep you from fallowing Sasuke, she thought if she confessed to loving you, you would have no more reason to chase him." "Sai, where are Sakura and the others now?" Kakashi asked a hint of urgency in his voice. "They are heading to the summit where they heard Sasuke was to take care of him." "And you let them? Are you insane? Naruto ran out the door before anyone could stop him. Kakashie cursed under his breath, "Dam it Yamato please report back to the Leaf me and Sai will go after them." Yamato nodded and bounded off in the direction of the Leaf. "Lead the way Sai." And off they went.

Sakura could not hide her anger, _"That idiot." _She thought. She of course felt bad that She said those things in front of Hinata which she would explain later, but at the same time was glad Naruto cared for Sasuke so much and that he had rejected her, which is all that saved her friendship with Hinata no doubt. She stopped suddenly and everyone fallowed suit. "I'm going on alone from here." Kiba snorted, "You think you can take Sasuke on by yourself? No way we are seeing this through to the end." Sai did not say anything but had a questionable look on his face. Hinata looked at Sakura, she was still happy that Naruto had rejected Sakura, and was still a little hurt by Sakura's fake confession, but she still cared for her friend. "Kiba is right, we will take care of Sasuke togeather." she said. Sakura looked at Hinata, she had at first objected to her going, but when the boys explained that their plan was to keep Hinata as close to Naruto as possible to help him notice her, she could not refuse. She simply had to suck it up and agree. Hinata had also objected to going but everyone insisted that she was the best choice as they knew she cared for Naruto the most. "I have to do this alone, if I don't it will hunt me forever, I really do love Sasuke and that's why it has to be me." Hinata ran up to her and hugged her, "I understand Sakura but please let us help you, Sasuke is our classmate so we have a responsibility to him as well, and also we have to bring you back for Narutos sake." Sakura was shocked Hinata would say something like that, as was Kiba apparently cause he kicked up some snow. Sakura reached in her pocket and holding back her tears she said, "Thank you Hinata." With that she slammed the gas bombs into the ground Hinata let go of her and had a look that said, "Why?" before she collapsed. Kiba having a stronger sense of smell was out before the snow he had kicked up fell to the ground. Sai however had anticipated this and jumped out of the way, but only to run head first into Sakura's waiting fist. He was out cold before he knew he had been hit. Sakura looked at her comrades and said, "I'm sorry." She then continued on to the bridge that connected to the summit.

Naruto was running as fast as he could anger boiling inside him, _"Dam it Sakura, why did ya have to go and pull a stunt like this?" _"Naruto hold up!" Kakashi and Sai's clone were right behind him. He slowed his pace to let them catch up. "Sai how far ahead are they?" we have quite a lead on you guys but Sakura just stopped, I think she is planning to go on alone. Naruto quickened his pace when he heard that, "Do not let her do it." Kakashi said. "Too late." And with that the clone disappeared. Kakashi swore under his breath again but there was no time to stop, they eventually came to a clearing where they found Kiba, Hinata, and Sai all unconscious. "Dam it Sakura." Naruto said again. After making sure their comrades were set aside somewhere safe they continued on. But not before Hinata Slowly opened her eyes to see Narutos orange jacket fading into the distance. She got up and looked around, Kiba and Sai were still out cold but otherwise unharmed. _" I have to fallow them to make sure Sakura and Naruto-kun are safe." _She thought and raced after them. Naruto and Kakashi, not knowing they had someone tailing them, continued on.

Sakura having arrived at the bridge looked in awe at the damage that surrounded her. The bridge was in pieces, the land was overturned. It looked like a huge battle had taken place. It was then she noticed a dark haired boy looking at her with eyes that stared into her soul. "Sasuke!" Sasuke said nothing but continued to stare at her. Finally he said, "Why are you hear Sakura?" Sakura shook her head, her determination unwavering. "I came to join you! I want to help you with your goal!" she said. "Is that so? And do you know my goal is to destroy the Hidden Leaf? Would you still want to join me then?" Sakura was shocked hearing this but did not show it, she pushed it out of her mind ran up and embraced him. "For you I would do anything." But as she said this she had a kunai pointing at his back. "Then why do you have a kunai pointed at me?" he said. Sakura gasped and the kunai fell from her hands. She stepped back, and Sasuke raised his sword and brought it down. Quicker then she could see a flash of orange and blond and she felt herself being picked up by Naruto. "Are you ok Sakura?" he said as he set her down. She nodded unable to say anything. "Sasuke what the hell you trying to do? Sakura is your teammate!" he shouted. "Was my teammate, I told you before I severed all my bonds for power. She means nothing to me same as you." Just then Tobi materialized out of thin air, and Kakashi landed next to Naruto. "Naruto leave Sasuke to me, you take of Tobi." Said Kakashi, as he activated his Shiningan. "No I have to do this, I need to know what he is thinking and to do that I need to fight him." Kakashi looked at Naruto and thought _"you really have grown strong Naruto." _ "Fine ill keep Tobi of you Sakura stay back." Sakura nodded and thought _"Once again I'm saved by Naruto, why does this always happen?" _ "Naruto you cannot save me, I will destroy the Leaf and you if you get in my way." He activated his Chidori and prepared to attack, Naruto summoned a shadow clone and made a Rasangan. "I won't let you, I'm taking you back and I will save you from all your hate." Sasuke looked at him and shouted, " Why Naruto? Why do you care so much?" "Because we are friends." Sasuke lost it, he flew forward and Naruto did the same and the water and air and everything around them ceased as the clashed. "Rasangan!" "Chidori!" the sound was deafening and both Sasuke and Naruto were flung back they straightened themselves up and stared at each other again. "Sasuke, during that last moment I realized something, if we fight again both of us will die…"

Hinata was running as fast as she could and saw the bridge come into sight, she stopped at the edge and looked down. Naruto had his Rasnagan, and Sasuke his Chidori. And they were about to use them. Hinata wanted to jump in but knew Naruto had to this so all she did was prey, _"Be careful Naruto-kun." _ She watched as they clashed, the blast was so powerful she was knocked off her feet even at a distance. When she recovered here senses she got up and saw that although they were both all right, they had been thrown back the way they came. Hinata was just glad Naruto was safe, until she heard him say "If we fight again, we will both die." Her world collapsed, everything went blank she did not even bother to fight the tears that came flowing. She wanted to scream but held herself and watched. "Ha you think you can kill me?" Sasuke said with a laugh, feel free to try, but know this Naruto, you will either have to kill me and be a hero, or die and be forever a loser." Hinata continued to observe when she saw something coming below Narutos legs. She did not think she acted. "Or I could just take you now and not let Sasuke trouble himself with you," It was Black Zetsu, who had come from below him even Kakashi would not be able to make it in time as close as he was. Zetsu's arm turned into a pointed wood like weapon and he brought it at Naruto's kidney area so as not to kill him. "Zetsu no!" Tobi yelled. But right at that moment Hinata got between the point and Naruto and it went right through her gullet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Realization**

Naruto watched as if the world was in slow motion; Hinata had come out of nowhere and took Zetsu's attack that might have otherwise incapacitated himself. He watched as Hinata's blood splashed on his face, and Zetsu roughly pull his weapon from her stomach. Hinata looked at Naruto straining her head and said "Naruto-kun." and collapsed. _"Why does this seem like this had happened before?" _ He thought to himself. So as she would not hit the water, Naruto caught her in his arms and saw she was breathing but barely. "That's enough Zetsu, we shall let Sasuke handel the Nine-tails." Zetsu laughed and faded back into the ground. Kakashi and Sakura rushed to support Hinata and Naruto. As soon as Sakura was applying emergency treatment to Hinata, Naruto although keeping the nine-tails dormant, still went berserk. "You bastered!" He turned and rushed at Tobi, but to no avail. "We will meet again Naruto," and with that he and Sasuke vanished into the abyss. "Dam it! Don't you run away from me! SASUKE! "He started blowing up anything and everything, throwing Rasangshurikens and Rasnagans like a mad man. Kakashi was about to use force in order to calm him when Hinata said with more voice then she should be able to, "Naruto please stop!" Naruto snapped back to reality instantly. Turning to face Sakura and Kakashi he walked over picked Hinata up, and dashed in the direction of the Leaf before they could object.

"Naruto wait! She is still critical!" Sakura called. But it was no use he was gone. "No he did the right thing Sakura, even with your skills she would not have made it out here very long. The best we can hope for is that Naruto take her to the Leaf as fast as possible." said Kakashi. Sakura said nothing; she had tears in her eyes and did not want Kakashi to see. _"Dam it Naruto, that's the second time Hinata has saved your life while I stood helpless." _ She cursed herself then pulled herself together. "What do we do Kakashi-sensei?" "We head back and check on Sai and Kiba then get back to the Leaf." He replied. Sakura nodded, but something did not seem quite right with this. She felt a lump in her chest every time she thought about Naruto and Hinata. She shook it off there would be another time. She and Kakashi then went to find Kiba and Sai who at this point had woken up but were still to groggy to move very fast. After explaining the situation however Kiba seemed to get a second to get a second wind, because his face turned bright red and his teeth were barred. "SHE DID WHAT?" and without another word he flew off in a rage Akamaru just managing to keep up with his master. Sakura shook her head. _"Why does he get like that when Hinata and Naruto are involved?" _She felt that lump in her chest again, but quickly shook it off once more. "So I'm kind of tired of all this dashing." said Kakashi. "Why don't we fill Sai in a bit more, with a slower pace?" No one objected and together they made way for home.

Naruto rushed to the Leaf as fast as possible, not stopping to rest even once. However he could help but look down at the comatose girl in his arms. _"Why Hinata? Why do this for me?" _He could not shake the feeling that he was forgetting something, something important. **"You really are clueless aren't you boy?"** Staying at his current pace Naruto replied "Shut up stupid fox, it's your fault those basterds are after me." The Nine-tails chuckled a little bit, **"I think I'm going to enjoy how this plays out." **He was silent after that. _"What is with that fox? What does he mean by clueless?" _But just then he arrived at the Leaf village gate. Not stopping for any questions, which plenty have people had by the looks of things, he rushed for the hospital. Once he was there, Hinata was sent to the ER and visitors besides family were asked to leave. Naruto started walking out of the hospital when Neji ran past, He did not say anything but he gave Naruto a look that said he was going to get it later. Naruto shuddered, he thought about what to do, he couldn't go home, there was too much on his mind. He did not feel like eating so he simply walked to the only place he could vent if he needed; the training ground.

"Where the hell is he?!" Kiba burst into the hospital yelling at the top of his voice, his rage boiling over. Ino came over and punched his head. "Not so loud idiot!" Everyone looked at Kiba and finally Neji said, "He's at the training ground." "All right I'm going to go kick his ass, who's coming with me?" everyone got up and nodded. Shikamaru just sighed "What a- "Don't even think about saying drag, your coming too!" With that Ino grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the hospital. The other fallowed, Kiba however sprinted ahead of them. _"I'm going to rip him apart." _He thought his emotions way past the point of anger. He no sooner thought it when he was at the training ground and he saw Naruto leaning against a tree apparently deep in thought. Naruto looked up when he saw him, he said "Kiba I- he never finished that sentence Kiba just ran up and punched him square in the face. Naruto felt his nose break and staggered backwards. But Kiba was not done yet, not even remotely close, "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" he yelled kneeing him in the crutch. Naruto felt the pain immediately, and buckled to the ground. Kiba then continued his assault by kicking him repeatedly in the gut, Naruto had enough. He grabbed Kiba's leg with one arm and swept it out from under him. Then he started punching him in the face, "What the hell you doing you jerk!" he yelled as the blows landed. However before he could land another, Akamaru bit down hard on Naruto's arm. Distracted Naruto fell of Kiba trying to pull the dog off of him. "You know perfectly well what I'm doing I'm kicking your ass!" He called off Akamaru and jumped back. Naruto got to his feet. "Fine you want a fight? I'll give you a fight!" Waving the hand signs he shouted "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Then calling up his Chakra prepared a Rasangan. Kiba and Akamaru rushed at him, Naruto returned the attack. "Fang Over Fang!" the duo turned into a powerful spin combo headed straight for Naruto. Naruto stretched out his arm and shouted "Rasnagan!" The blast was almost as strong as when he had clashed with Sasuke. Trees were up rooted, the ground shook, and the training equipment was blown apart. Both parties flew apart and slammed into the ground and skipped like skipping stones several yards apart. They were both out of Chakra but that did not matter, the slowly got to their feet and continued using their fists, and anything else they could use as a weapon till they both collapsed.

By the time the rest of the group got there, they found the training ground destroyed, craters dotted the landscape, and it looked as if a storm had decided to make the place its personal playroom. Kiba and Naruto were on the ground both trying still to hurt the other, but all they could do was raise their arms, only to have them fall back to their sides. Akamaru was hiding in the bushes whimpering. "Those fools." Ino said clinching her fists. Lee and Choji just looked in awe at the devastation. Shikamaru just grimaced. Shino said nothing but he had that strange buzzing noise coming from his person again. Tenten and Neji waited for a moment then the latter said, "We better go help them." Ino did not hesitate; she headed straight for Kiba and started to heal his wounds. "Dam it." she said. "Where the hell is Sakura?" As if to answer her question, she, Sai, and Kakashi appeared on the other entrance to the field. Sakura seeing the damage and the still collapsed Naruto rushed over and began to heal him. "Kakashi turned to Skiamaru and asked, "What happened?" "Not here." he replied. And he and Kakashi removed themselves to talk. Finally Naruto was able to move and he said, "What the heck were you thinking?" Kiba Using Ino to support him stood up. "I'm thinking about the one person you don't seem to care for at all." he said still angry. "What the hell are you talking about?" Kiba would have kicked him again, but Ino held him back. Instead he said, "You idiot, of course you don't know, you're too obsessed with Sakura, and Sasuke to notice the one person who cared about you since day one. " "Start making some dam sense Kiba!" Kiba pushed Ino off him kicked some dirt in Naruto's face and said, "You don't deserve her!" with that he stormed off still clenching his side from his injuries. Naruto swore he saw a tear in his eye. Ino looked at Naruto her own face red with anger, "Ya know I thought you changed, especially when you defeated Pain, but now I see your still that annoying little kid from the academy." She ran after Kiba hoping to heal his injuries some more. Choji and Lee fallowed them with their heads hung low, not even looking at Naruto. Shino looked off into the distance but said nothing and motioning for Sai to fallow they left. Neji walked up to Sakura and pulled her from healing Naruto. "That's enough Sakura, he can get by on his own." "But- she was about to argue when Tenten held her hand, and shook her head tears in her eyes. Neji looked down on Naruto. "When you first told me I could change my destiny all those years ago, I thought you were an idiot. But when you beat me I started to seriously reflect on my life and began to believe it myself. However each day I see Lady Hinata crying, I realize that fate can still be cruel no matter if we change it or not. I asked myself why she would not change her fate and stop loving you, I even shunned her for it. Now I realize that there are things we cannot change, it came from the one person who told me they can." Naruto looked up at him and everything suddenly hit him like a wrecking ball. "If any of your words were true that day, its time you start showing it." He turned and walked away motioning for the girls to fallow. Tenten pulled on Sakura, begging her to come, she finally conceded. After everyone had left Naruto still in pain from his fight pulled himself into a sitting position. The only thing on his mind was, "Hinata…"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Regret**

Naruto picked himself up, a million thoughts raced through his head: Sasuke, Sakura, but most importantly for the first time those were just back lash. The forefront of his mind was on Hinata. "All those times she fainted, and was nervous. Even back during that time…" His mind flashed back to when he had first started going to the Ninja Academy. It was a cold winter's day and he was alone on the swing outside again, when he heard some laughing from a few yards away. "Haha I bet she thinks she thinks she is so tough just because her clan is important." Naruto got off the swing and went to see what was happening. "Ya I heard her father is the clan head, so she must think that she can do anything" said another voice. Naruto turned the corner and saw two big guys picking on a girl that happened to be in his class. She had short dark blue hair, and kind lavender eyes. She was obviously a member of the Hyuuga clan. _"What's she doing with those creeps?"_ He thought to himself. But when he looked again he could tell she was upset. Those creeps were apparently picking on her. Naruto not likening bullies as he was bullied by the village, went up to them and said, "Knock it off." The bullies turned around, there were only two of them but they were most certainly causing the girl grief. "What did you say freak?" Naruto gritted his teeth, "I said knock it off!" "What you going to do about it freak?" Naruto punched the bully in the face. "Don't call me freak, listen up! I'm going to be named Hokage one day so don't you forget, its Naruto Uzumaki!" The other bully tried to attack Naruto but he kneed him in the gut, after that the bullies fled saying something about payback and freak.

Naruto grinned as the two ran off and started to walk away. "U-um thank you!" Naruto turned around the girl was bowing her head in what appeared to be appreciation. He did not say anything but just kept on walking. Hinata looked up to see him walking away. She wanted to thank him somehow as this was the second time that boy had saved her. "Excuse me!" she said running after him. Naruto turned around. "Eh? What do you want?" Hinata blushed a little bit, "I was wondering if you wanted to go do something." She said tapping her pointer fingers together and swaying back and forth. Naruto at first was shocked; no one had ever wanted to do anything with him before. But his shock quickly turned into anger. "What, so you can call me a freak and bully me as well? No thanks." He started walking away this time faster. Hinata was hurt and called out to him, "N-no that's not what I- Naruto interrupted her, "Save it you're no better than those to jerks who were picking on you!" He then ran and Hinata could not catch up. She tried to fallow him but tripped and fell face first into the snow. When she got up he was gone. _"I'm no better than them?" _She thought, tears forming in her eyes, _"But I just wanted to thank him!" _ She buried her hands in her palms and cried it felt as if her father rejected her all over again.

Naruto came back to the present, but only to be sent full force back to his battle with Pain. He remembered the rods sticking all over his body making him helpless when suddenly Hinata attacked Pain. In those moments he remembered her words, _"I'm not afraid to die, if it means I can protect you! Because…I love you Naruto-kun."_ Naruto wanted to hit himself, had he really let a simple crush over Sakura, and his obsession with Sasuke really blind him so much? And back then had he really let his distrust in others throw away the one chance he had at a somewhat happy childhood? But what was even worse that now Hinata had nearly died protecting him twice now and he was too ignorant to realize why. "I have to go see her." He said. Getting up slowly, his injuries not bothering him half as much as his stupidity, he headed for the hospital.

Naruto knew that it was late and that visitors were not allowed but he was not a ninja for nothing. He quickly found a way though one of the open windows. Thankfully it was a closed office so he did not have to worry about any patients. Before opening the door he made sure the hall was clear, and crept out of the room, looking for the room that said Hinata Hyuuga. He finally found it at the end of the hall and making sure to be real quite snuck in. The room was dark but the moonlight was shining through. Naruto did not have to look around because Hinata was laying on the bed right in front of him the curtains had been left alone. He walked over to her sleeping figure, the lamp stand had a flower vase and it seemed everyone had left her a get well card. Naruto pulled out his pockets hoping he had something to give her but to no avail. All he found were a few pieces of loose string. He cursed himself for not going to get some money and buying her something first. But his thoughts were swept away when he heard Hinata say in her sleep, "Naruto-kun." Naruto felt tears falling from his face, he kneeled beside Hinata and taking her hand in his he said, "Hinata I'm so sorry, it my fault you ended up like this, I caused you so much pain, I really am an idiot." With that he fell asleep resting his head on her chest.

Kurenai walked down the hall of the hospital. She had only just learned that morning Hinata was in the hospital and had come to see how her student was recovering. When she opened the door to Hinata's room she was surprised to see Naruto was asleep his head leaning on the bed. Kurenai sighed. _"So he finally realized." _ She thought to herself. Gently shaking Naruto's shoulder she said, "Wake up sleepy head." Naruto stirred lifting his head and looked around, his eyes half open. When he saw her he jumped up and yelled, "I didn't do anything!" Kurenai was usually a calm woman, but yelling in a hospital room was one thing she did not tolerate. She brought her fist down hard on Naruto's head. "Be quite." she hissed. Naruto notching Hinata moving uncomfortably, shut up. "Kurenai-sensei I swear I did not do anything." Kurenai laughed at that. "Naruto I'm not concerned if you did anything to Hinata. Boys will be boys after all." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "But if I find out your lying I will have to kill you." Naruto stiffened Kurenai had a dark aura about her and her eyes were red with promise. Naruto gulped and shook it off. "I just came to see Hinata. It's my fault she is in here." he said. Kurenai shook her head, maybe he did understand as much as she had thought. "Meet me outside Naruto; I want to talk to you about something." "Cant I just walk out?" "Sure if ya want to alert the nurses that a boy spent all night with an unconscious girl, let's walk right on out." Naruto decided to use the window.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Kurenai asked as they walked. Know the answer of course she did not wait but went ahead and bought him some ramen. Kurenai just shook her head as she watched him eat. "Ya know Naruto, eating ramen all the time is not good for your health, I think you should learn to cook." Naruto laughed, "Come on Kurenai-sensei can you honestly picture me cooking?" Kurenai shook her head, "No I guess not, then why not find someone to teach you or at least cook for you?" "Oh come on can ya think of anyone would be willing to teach me to cook? Much less cook for me?" Kurenai sighed, this kid was denser then she thought. She was going to have to play this carefully. "Why not Sakura? She is your teammate right? And don't you have a crush on her?" "Ha! Sakura can't cook, and even if she could she would pound me if I asked." Getting a serious look on her face she asked, "Then how about Hinata?" Naruto nearly choked on his ramen. "What? I could not ask her to go through all that trouble." He looked down cast after that, "I've already made her go through enough as it is." he said. "Naruto, do you even know what it means to love someone?" Naruto shook his head. "Hinata does what she does, because she wants to, not because you made her." "But I- Kurenai waved him off. "Naruto you're never going to be able to save Sasuke, become Hokage, or do anything with your life the way you are now. I know you're a strong Ninja but it takes more than recognition and strength to accomplish such feats. I ask that you simply think about that and go see Hinata later." With that she walked out giving him a slight punch on the shoulder.

Naruto watched as Kurenai left and thought about her words. He realized that he did not know anything about love, sure he felt jetty around Sakura but some of that had been her looks, and another to compete with Sasuke. He knew he loved his teammates and his friends, heck he thought of Sasuke and Gaara like brothers. But Kurenai was obviously talking about something else. He made up his mind, went home and grabbed all his savings and headed for the hospital. He asked the nurse when Hinata would be released and she said later that day but she was to stay within the village and take off from missions for a few days. Apparently Zetsu's attack had missed any vital organs so it had simply been a loss of blood which caused her collapse. Naruto waited on the bench outside for Hinata to come out. Finally she came out using a crutch to support her still weakened state. Naruto was too nervous to move, he had never done anything like what he was planning but when he saw the crutch slip out from under her, and he flew to catch her. "Oh! Naruto-kun Neji was going to come get me." Naruto helped her to her feet and let her lean on his arm. "Hinata." "Y-yes Naruto-kun?" "Would you like to go and do something?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: New Light.**

Hinata gasped, _"Naruto-kun wants to do something with me?" _Seeing her expression Naruto thought he overstepped. "It's fine if you just want to wait for Neji!" he said looking away. Hinata shook herself she was not going to miss this chance. "N-no! I want to but it's just hard to walk." Naruto grinned, "That's ok just use my arm!" Hinata's face turned a shade of red that could shame a lobster. _"No don't faint, I have to do this!". _ Naruto continued to let her lean on his arm, and she took the opportunity to hold him closer. "So what ya want to do Hinata?" Naruto asked. "Anything's fine." She replied and secretly thought, _"As long as it's with you." _ "Great! Let's go get some- he stopped himself. He couldn't take her to get ramen, what was he thinking? But what else could he do? He had never taken anyone, much less a girl to do anything. He started scratching his head trying to come up with something. Hinata saw he was struggling so she said, "Why don't we get some ramen?" Naruto stopped and looked at her. She looked away embarrassed but did not loosen up on his arm. He smiled, "OK Ichiraku's here we come!"

They ordered their ramen to go, and decided to go eat at the park. They did not talk much, Hinata do to embarrassment, and Naruto because the only thing he could think of were apologies. The last thing he wanted was to make Hinata remember all the times he had caused her pain, but he knew he would have to bring it up sooner or later. "Hinata I- she silenced him by clasping her hand on his mouth. "Naruto-kun don't say it, I already know what you're going say and I never held it against you." Naruto knew she was lying, she had held it against him, but her feelings for him had overshadowed them. She let go of him and turned away again, hoping she had not ruined everything. Naruto wanted to pursue what he was saying but decided to leave it for another time instead he said, "Did you mean what you said when you fought Pain?" This time Hinata looked at him straight in the face and said, "Yes I've always loved you Naruto-kun, I always will no matter what you do." Naruto looked at her, her eyes were closed and her lips were pressed, he knew what she wanted but could not bring himself to do it. So he turned his body fully towards her and embraced her. "Thank you Hinata, I really am an idiot for causing you so much pain, but I don't understand what the love you feel for me is yet, but I'm willing to give it a try." Hinata was disappointed but hugged him back; she did not say anything but tears of joy streamed down her face. _"I really do love Naruto-kun."_ She thought. They spent the rest of the day together just sitting and talking in the park about any number of things. Afterwards Naruto walked her home and she left him at the gate so nobody would see.

"It's about dam time!" Kiba said. He and the rest of the group had been observing the whole thing from a nearby alleyway. "Yes indeed." Lee replied, "Their love will blossom like the flowers of youth!" Tenten shook her head, "Not the whole youth speech again," she said. Even Shino despite his somewhat moody personality, looked like he smiled. Choji resumed stuffing his face happily. "Now I can get out of this drag," Shikamaru said. Ino gave him a look, "Oh come on I know you're happy too." Shikamaru just grinned. Sakura however was feeling slightly off, she was happy for Hinata of course after all she went through. However when Naruto and Hinata embraced that lump she had first felt at the bridge felt heavier than ever. _"What the heck is this?" _She thought. Everyone dispersed except Neji who had noticed Sakura's weird behavior. "Sakura may I speak with you?" Sakura actually had a lot of work to do, since Tsunade had woke up she was working double shifts. But there was a note of urgency in Neji's voice when he said that. "I'm sorry I have to help- she would have finished except she looked at Neji who had his Beyagugan activated, and his face was not happy. "What is it?" she asked. She felt cold sweat on the back of her neck. "Your chakra flow just now was disoriented, particularly around your crown and heart points." She was about to say something but Neji waved her off. "I won't dig into it, but if you mess up what Lady Hinata has wanted all her life, I will not show even you mercy." He left without another word. Sakura stood there Neji's words ringing in hear ears. She shook it off, he was obviously mistaken she was just stressed from the extra work. _"I hate people who lie to themselves." _ Naruto's words rang like thunder in her ears. She fell to her knees, "No, I couldn't possibly love Naruto?"

Days turned into weeks, and after 3 or 4 Naruto decided. "I'm going to ask Hinata out!" He declared. He had never felt like this before, everything besides Sasuke seemed to be going right in his life. But even then Sasuke seemed to be on the back burner. He still did not know what love was, all he knew was he felt comfortable with Hinata. "I never noticed but she is actually cuter then Sakura!" he grinned at the thought of her blushing face. He gathered up his money from the past few days missions and planned to take her out to a nice dinner and absolutely no ramen. In the Hyuuga complex not far off Hinata was beaming also. How could she not? Her dream of being beside Naruto, slowly seemed to be coming true. She was disappointed he had not officially asked her out yet, and even more so that the only thing they did was hold hands. They had not even embraced since that first day out from the hospital, and Hinata longed for the feeling of being in his arms again. Suddenly a gust of wind blew through her room and a piece of paper landed on the floor. She picked it up and read, "Meet me at Ichiraku's." She sighed. She enjoyed being with Naruto but ramen was getting real old and all they did was eat and talk about missions. Never the less, "_As long as I'm with Naruto-kun it does not matter." _ She no longer had to look at him from behind and that was more than enough. She put on her usual jacket and left to meet with Naruto.

Naruto waited by Ichiraku's tapping his foot nervously. He did not want to be to forward but he could not stand doing the same thing with Hinata over and over. He really did not want her to lose interest in him. _"Neh that will never happen." _He thought his confidence renewing. But he suddenly came crashing back to earth when he heard, "N-Naruto-kun?" Naruto jumped ten feet in the air. "Ahhh! Hinata don't sneak up on me like that!" When he turned around, he saw Hinata smiling at his goofy act, but she quickly turned her bright red when he looked at her. _"Man she really is cute when she does that." _ "Naruto-kun are we going to buy some raman?" she asked tapping her fingers again. Naruto smiled and took her hand. "Nope! I'm going to take you somewhere nice tonight!" Hinata was shocked when he grabbed her and started pulling her in the direction of the shopping district. "Naruto-kun not so fast!" she did not mean it, because she had a big smile on her face, and Naruto saw it. He brought her to the end of the street where there was a small café by the creek. Unfortunately they were sold out but Naruto being a hero now and also having earned a lot of money over the past weeks, used it to his advantage. Tipping the waiter they were seated right by the creek with the sunset shining down and reflecting off the water and sparkling. When they brought the menu Naruto however lost his cool. He was used to eating ramen all the time that all this other stuff seemed so wired. Hinata giggled, she was gonna have to introduce Naruto to new food sometime. So she took Naruto's menu and ordered for him. After the food came they ate in silence for the longest time. Then they started talking about missions and it lightened the mood. They finished their meal payed the bill and Naruto said he would walk Hinata home. Before they made it to the Hyuuga complex Naruto stopped. Hinata puzzled asked, "Naruto-kun?" Naruto turned towards her and said, "Hinata will you go out with me?" Hinata nearly had a heart attack, but held herself together. "Naruto-kun what- "I still don't understand love or anything, but what I do understand that I enjoy being with you! And I don't want anyone else to have you!" Hinata could not hold herself any longer she stood on her tiptoes and slammed her lips onto his. Naruto was taken aback but he did not push her away. They finally pulled apart and Hinata hugged Naruto as if letting him go would be the end of the world. "Yes Naruto-kun yes I will." As she said this she had warm tears on her face but Naruto dried them off. "I promise you, I won't let anyone make you cry again!" They embraced each other for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes. They heard a twig snap and a sound like a cup falling. Hinata let go of Naruto and smiled before heading into the complex. Naruto stood there for a moment and then he jumped for joy, "Dattaboyo!" he turned and headed for home when he nearly tripped over, "eh? What's this ramen cup doing here?"

That same evening Sakura could not focus, she kept having to slap herself back to reality, _"That's insane I love Sasuke." _Which was true, however she kept getting that weird feeling every time she saw Hinata and Naruto. Particularly when Hinata was holding Naruto's hand. "Agggg what the heck is wrong with me?" "Sakura are you ok?" It was Lady Tsunade. She had been filled in on everything that had happened by now of course and she had surprisingly got things under control quickly. She could not however take Sasuke of the rouge ninja list for fear it would upset the Cloud, and with a war with the Akatsuki on the winds, they could not afford that. "I'm fine lady Tsunade, just stuff on my mind." Tsunade sighed, "Why not take the rest of the evening off? It's late anyway you should get some rest." "No I'm fine- Tsunade put her hands on her shoulders, "Sakura I'm ordering you to take the rest of the night off. I'm sending Naruto off to with Yamato and Guy tomorrow to get him away from the war you should probably go tells him to pack." Sakura flinched when she heard Naruto's name _"why did I do that?" _ "You're sending him off tomorrow? Isn't that a bit soon?" Tusnade sat down at her desk. "Regrettably we don't have much choice, Naruto and the Raikage's brother are the only two Jinchurik left, the sooner they are out of the enemies hands the better, epically since we don't know their number. " Sakura could understand that, so without another word she bowed and showed herself out. Despite what Tsunade said about it being late the sun was still up shining its pink and orange sunset hues. _"Pink and orange huh?" _She felt her fist fly at her face. "No gosh dam it!" Hitting herself in the face. She shook herself out of it and headed for her house. She was coming up the street when she saw Naruto fly past pulling Hinata along with him, he did not even stop to say hi. Sakura could see a huge smile on his face, even Hinata was smiling through her blush. That lump in her chest doubled. Although she told herself not to fallow them she did anyway at a distance. When They got to the café, Sakura saw Naruto actually pay off the waiter to get them a table. Finally managing to pull herself away she walked out of the café. She had nearly made it home when she stopped. Thoughts of Sasuke and Naruto raced through her mind. All the times Naruto saved her flashed through her mind. The fight with Pain, Zabuza, and even against Sasuke. Sasuke who had tried to kill her. The man she loved had tried to kill her. Suddenly almost all her feelings for him seemed to vanished in that moment. She still loved Sasuke and she always would but for now she could not hide it anymore. "I really do love Naruto the same way." She made up her mind. "Maybe it's not too late, he has not asked her out yet." She went to Ichraku's and bought the best ramen he had. She did not know what else to buy but hey Naruto loved ramen right? She would just have to hope a cup of ramen would be enough to satisfy the years of rejection and shunning she had on her. The sun had set by the time she walked in the direction of Naruto's apartment. She turned the corner which lead to the Hyuuga complex and dropped the ramen when she saw it tears in her eyes. Naruto and Hinata were kissing passionately in the moonlight and their faces showed a look of no greater happiness. She stepped back and broke a twig. And Hinata and Naruto stopped their embrace. She quickly turned around and ran all the way home. She ran up the steps went in and threw herself on her bed. Sobbing uncontrollably she said, "I was such a fool!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Anger and Jealousy**

Sakura finally fell asleep, but that did not stop the dreams. She was back at the Ninja Academy all her friends were around her laughing. Everything seemed to be going so well but she noticed that slowly everyone left. They were heading off with their own lives leaving her behind. Eventually it was just her Naruto and Sasuke. _"That's ok as long as these two are here." _But then Naruto turned away, he did not have that goofy smile he used to have when fawning over her. Instead he was looking at something, or rather someone else. Not far off stood Hinata, she wore a simple purple kimono and she had a single flower pin in her hair. Naruto gave her a look Sakura had never got from him, his eyes were wide and sparkling like a lake, his mouth was open in wonder even at the sheer simplicity of Hinata's attire. He ran to her and embraced her, she returned the favor. Then hand in hand they began to walk away. Sakura called out to him, "No Naruto don't leave me!"

Naruto stopped for a second while Hinata just continued to look at him. "Eh? What you mean Sakura? You have Sasuke." He pointed behind her, but what she saw terrified her. Sasuke was still there, but unlike earlier where he had been the Sasuke she grew up with at the academy, stood a monster. Sasuke has a crazed smile on his face, his Shiningan activated and blood seeping from his eyes.

"What's the matter Sakura? I thought you loved me, didn't you say we would destroy the Leaf together?" he said as he raised his sword and prepared to cut her down.

Sakura screamed, "No Naruto come back! Don't leave me alone! I'll go out with you! I'll do anything you want please!" But her words fell on deaf ears; Naruto was too busy kissing Hinata, not even trying to notice her. Sasuke laughed as he brought the sword down on her.

She woke with a scream, "Naruto!" When she collected herself she wiped her eyes, fresh tears were falling from her eyes, she had been crying through the dream. She shook herself out of it and got up to get ready for the day. It was then she remembered, "Oh crap I forgot to tell Naruto to pack!" She rushed through her breakfast and headed for Naruto's apartment.

x-x

Naruto was lying in bed having pleasant dreams for the first time since Jirayia's death, when something cold was thrown on him. He sat bolt upright in bed and found that he was soaked and looked at his window. There was Kakashi and through his mask Naruto detected a sarcastic smile. "What the hell Kakashi-sensei!"

"Ah Naruto, sorry to wake you up so abruptly but Lady Tsundade has a mission for you, your to meet Guy and Yammato at the Gate where they will explain more when you leave. Also you should pack for a few days since you're going to a remote island." With that before Naruto could do anything, he vanished.

"Dam that Kakashie." he said with a growl. But he had a mission it seemed so he did not dwell on it. He took a shower, put on some fresh clothes, packed for a few days, and headed for the Gate. "Oh ya I should probably tell Hinata not to wait up for me, since I won't see her for a while. " The thought actually depressed him, he had just gotten up the courage to ask her out, AND had kissed her, now he was leaving for who knew how long. Lucky for him the Hyuuga complex was on his way so he could stop by, he found her already heading for her own days duties when he passed by. When he told her the news she got a sad look on her face and that bothered him. "Hey I'll be back before ya know it! No mission is too tough for me!" he said triumphantly.

She smiled at that, but like Naruto she was disappointed that they had become official but were now forced to be separate. "Can I walk with you to the gate Naruto-kun?" she asked, tapping her fingers again.

"Sure! Let's go!" He replied. And taking her hand they headed for the gate. Neji, who had been nearby, smiled and decided to fallow them and send Naruto off with her.

"It seems you're not as clueless as I thought." He remarked to himself.

x-x

Sakura kept banging the door of Naruto's apartment. "Hey wake up stupid!" She shut her mouth. _"Crap do I always sound like that to Naruto?" _Surprisingly the door opened to all her banging. She looked inside and saw the room was empty. Sakura knew Kakashi must have come by and told him. She ran out the door and sprinted like mad for the gate. _"No, not yet Naruto please wait!" _ She zoomed past the other Konoha 11 at different points in the village and notching Sakura was out of sorts they all decided to fallow. She finally made it to the gate Naruto was waving good bye to Hinata while she stood there blushing. _"He did not even come say bye to me." _She knew this was her last chance. "Naruto wait!" she shouted. Naruto stopped and saw her coming. He said something to Guy and Yamato and they nodded and started off without him. By this time everyone else had gathered and were bidding Naruto farewell. Sakura looked around, it appeared Neji had been there even before her and he was looking at her with a death gaze.

"What's up Sakura? Sorry I didn't tell you I was leaving." Naruto said grinning and scratching his head. Sakura looked down; she could still pull out of this. _"No if I don't ill lose everything anyway." _ She thought. She walked up to him. "Sakur- She grabbed his head and pulled him into a kiss. She had her eyes closed not wanting to look at the shocked faces of Kiba, Ino, Choji, Lee, and Shikamaru. The extremely pissed off face of Neji. But most especially the hurt and betrayed look from Hinata. Naruto pushed her off of him. "What's the matter with you Sakura?" he yelled.

"Naruto, don't leave me please! I really do love you!" she said.

"What about Sasuke? Sai told me everything in the land of Iron about your plan."

"I love Sasuke as well, but I'll never have him with where he is going, I don't want to lose you as well!" She looked pathetic, after all these years of rejecting Naruto for Sasuke, beating him up, and shunning him, here she was begging him to be with her? She knew it was bad but that's all she could do. "Please Ill learn to cook!" she said in desperation. "I'll go out with you! I'll make you lun-

But Naruto turned around and went to Hinata who had tears in her eyes. Pulling her into a hug he then looked at Sakura and said, "I told you before, I hate people who lie to themselves!"

Sakura was hurt but she came back, "I'm not lying! Please I beg you Naruto!"

Naruto shook his head, "Even if what you say is true, you rejected me all my life. I saved you life more times than I can count, and still the only thing you thought about was Sasuke. I realize now what I felt for you was nothing more than a crush, and maybe part of it was just so I could beat Sasuke at something. It does not matter anymore because now I have someone who loved me even before you accepted me a friend. I was just too blinded by my jealousy for Sasuke and a dumb crush over you to realize it, Hinata is the one I love!"

Now Sakura was angry, she was being completely rejected by Naruto of all people in front of everyone. Her rage boiled over, "What would you know about love? You're just a stupid fox boy!" She instantly regretted it. Nobody spoke, not even the sound of the wind could be heard. Just pure and utter silence.

Naruto let go of Hinata his blond hair covered his eyes. "There were a lot of people who called me that." He said quietly. "But I never thought I would hear it from you." He turned and ran after Kakashi and Guy, and Sakura saw a single tear drop to the ground where he had stood.

x-x

Hinata watched as Naruto fled down the road she had tears in her own eyes, but these were the first tears that were neither happy nor sad. She wanted to run after Naruto to comfort him, to do anything but she could not. Instead she turned and walked towards Sakura.

"Hinata I-she was silenced when with full force Hinata back handed her. Everyone even Shikamaru gasped. No one had ever seen Hinata angry, much less pissed off; it was not a pleasant sight.

"How could you?!" she screamed at her. Then she summoned her chakra too her fists. "He did everything for you! He cried for you, would have given his life for you! HE LOVED YOU!" She started beating every single chakra point on Sakura's body. Finally Shino and Kiba had to restrain her. However she was so angry she even threw them off. She ran to attack Sakura again but Neji used his own Palm technique and hit her air point, knocking Hinata out.

"Ino Tenten, please escort Lady Hinata home." he said. Tenten and Ino came and once again threw the girl over their shoulders. Ino was so angry she did not even to call Sakura billboard brow. Tenten just shook her head at her. Kiba was about to remark how he also wanted a shot at her, but Shino told him to stay quiet. Kiba was about to argue but for the first time Shino did not even bother to hide his anger. So he grabbed Kiba and dragged him to the training ground. Sakura was going to say something but then Neji looked her straight in the face his Beyagugan activated. "I warned you, if you did anything to mess up what Lady Hinata has wanted all her life, I would not show mercy." He raised his hand and Sakura braced herself. "But it appears Lady Hinata has done my work for me." With that he stormed away. Sakura looked to Lee and Choji hoping for some sympathy Lee had a crush on her after all right? But it was a false hope they just stared at her finally Neji back tracked and dragged them off by the collar. Finally Shikarmaru snapped back to reality and went over and picked her up.

"Shikamaru…"

"Don't get me wrong." he said, "but it would be a drag if Tsunade had to come out here herself to fix your mess." Scorned even by Shikamaru, this day could not get any worse. He took her to the hospital, checked her in and left nothing more nothing less.

Sakura looked at the ceiling tears going down her face. _"I lost Sasuke, my friends, and now even Naruto." _She cried quietly as she fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Past and the War.**

Hinata woke up and found she was in her room. The back of her neck felt slightly sore because of Neji of knocking her out, but that's not what bothered her. _"Why Sakura? Why would you say that to Naruto-kun?" _Her thoughts then suddenly turned to Naruto. At first she wanted to cry for him, but then she remembered his words before he ran off. _"The one I love is Hinata!"_ Hinata dropped to her knees and she did start crying, but they were the happiest tears of her life. It was at that moment however that Neji walked in.

"Hinata-sema, are you ok?" he asked as he went and grabbed her shoulders. "Is it Sakura? Don't worry you- he was caught off guard when she out of the blue hugged him and started laughing.

"Oh Neji I'm so happy!"

Neji was very confused, he pulled her off gently and looked her in the eyes, "Hinata-sema are you feeling ok?" he put his hand on her head to check her temperature. Then felt where he had knocked her out to see if he over did it.

Hinata blushed and tapping her fingers said, "Naruto-kun confessed just before he ran away." She looked at Neji to see his reaction. At first he had a suspicious look on his face, his eyes were narrowed and his face was expressionless. Hinata wondered if she should not have told him but then he smiled.

"I am happy for you Lady Hinata." With that he hugged her got up and said, "Please get ready for the days duties I must go and perform my own." He bowed and left.

Hinata remained on her knees for a few moments, relishing in her new found joy. All thoughts of Sakura were pushed from her mind, she couldn't be mad even if she wanted too. Seeing as how she was already in her regular jacket, she simply got up and headed out for the day humming while she did.

x-x

Kiba and Shino were at the training ground and although Shino had returned to his usual calm demeanor, Kiba was still pissed. So in order to calm him down Shino had agreed to spare with him. "Fang Over Fang!" He and Akamaru rushed at Shino with the force of a very powerful drill. For a moment it looked like Shino would be heading to the hospital himself but Kiba and Akamaru found themselves heading straight into a swarm of bugs. Their attack was nullified completely and when the swarm stopped, Kiba and his dog were covered in the weirdest bug's bites. "OW! Dam it Shino!"

Shino just shrugged, "Are you done now?" His voice sounded normal but Kiba could tell he was still mad because he caught a hint of Shino daring him to attack again. Kiba growled but did not try anything else. "Good now we need to head back to the village, Lady Tsunade has an announcement." He said offering Kiba a hand.

"Man Shino I had no idea you were this tough." Kiba said.

"That's because you always forget about me." He replied.

Kiba grinned nervously because it was true. "Anyway what's the hokage need us for?"

"It's not just us." Said a voice. And Ino, Choji, and Shikamru came up the east entrance to the field. They had appently had been on perimeter duty. "Apparently this affects the entire village as well as the world." Shikamaru continued. .

"Whole world huh? Sounds fun." Kiba said grinning.

Ino sighed, 'Come on guys, Neji Tenten and Lee are waiting for us.

"What about Hinata and…her." Kiba said not wanting to say Sakura's name.

"That has already been taken care of." Said yet another voice coming from the village entrance It was Neji and for some odd reason he did not look so serious.

"Neji you her cousin! Are you telling me that you don't care what that bitch did?" Kiba asked angrily.

Neji closed his eyes maintaining his composer. "Lady Hinata, has already dealt with Sakura, both physically, and emotionally, I for one will do anything unless she deems it necessary." Kiba looked like he wanted to argue but Neji continued, "Besides once you see Hinata-sema yourself you may change your mind." When they heard that everyone was curious. So without another word they headed back to the village. They saw Hinata at the market buying some ingredients for what looked like a meal she was going to make. They were not cheap because she pulled a huge sack of coins from her pocket. But she did not seem to mind because the smile on her face told them that she could not be happier.

Kiba's jaw dropped to the ground. Ino's eyes began to water, everyone else just looked pleased.

"Hey what's taking you guys so long?" Tenten had came from the weapon shop when she had seen them spying on Hinata. Lee happened to be with her and was about to start his youth speech when Ino pointed to Hinata. Tenten's reaction was very similar to Ino's Lee however would not be silenced.

"Ahhhh the blossoming flower of youthful love is here!" Tenten smacked him upside the head.

x-x

Hinata headed back for the Hyuga complex caring the large bag of ingredients with a little difficulty. But She just kept smiling, _"when Naruto-kun comes back I'm going to make him the best dinner he has ever had!" _she thought as her smile just got bigger. She did not mind she spent her entire savings on the ingredients because for Naruto, it was worth it. She did not see where she was going until she bumped into someone, nearly dropping her bag. "Opps! I'm sorr- but when she looked at who it was she took it back. Sakura was on the ground having been released that morning and she was rubbing her side from the impact. Hinata just steadied her bag and continued walking, not offering Sakura any help getting up.

"Hinata wait!" Sakura said jumping to her feat. She ran after the young Hyuga and touched her shoulder. Hinata shrugged it off. "Please Hinata let me explain." Hinata just held her bag closer trying to think about Naruto and walked faster. "Hinata!" Hinata finally stopped and turned around but just then Tsunade appeared.

"Ahh there you 2 are, I need you to come with me everyone else is waiting. "

Hinata changed what she was going to say, "I-I'm kind of busy today." She said with a little effort. She did not want to be around Sakura just yet.

"Tsunade sighed. "It involves Naruto."

Hinata dropped her bag and the precious ingredients spilled everywhere. "Is he ok? Where is he? Is he-

Tsunade started picking up the dropped goods and gave them to Hinata, "Naruto is fine but he won't be if we are not prepared."

Hinata breathed normally again and took the bag, "What can I do?" So she and Sakura fallowed Tsunade back to the mission room where everyone was waiting.

x-x

Naruto woke with a start, he had been having the worst dream, Sakura was scorning him louder than everyone else in the village and with each word it felt like a nail in his heart. He got up and saw that the sun was up and decided to head for the Waterfall of Truth. Killer Bee the 8 tails Jinchuriki had agreed to teach Naruto how to control the Nine-tails so he shook off his previous thoughts because he had to be ready. Once inside the temple Bee started rapping. "Yo Naruto boy ya ready for this?" Naruto nodded but his thought process was all jammed up. Never the less he sat down and focused on his inner being. He found himself in the Nine-Tails lair staring between the bars that separated the two.

**"What do you think you're doing boy?"** Naruto did not say anything but reached for the seal. He took a deep breath and broke it. The Nine-Tails was freed and he attacked without waiting. **"You're going to regret that boy!" **He swiped his claws at Naruto but he jumped out of the way.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Now with over a hundred of himself there he activated his Sage mode. Then all the clones summoned a Rasangan. He manipulated his chakra and made them even bigger and all at once they attacked. "Sage Art Massive Rasangan Mega Barrage!" The attack hit home and the Nine-tails was blasted against the confides of his mind.

**"Not bad boy but it will take more than that to beat me! **Naruto was not listening he grabbed hold of the nine-tails leaking chakra and began to pull, but he used up a lot of chakra so all his clones were gone. **"You think you can take my chakra like that? Think again!"** and with that the nine-tails began to slowly posses Naruto. All of a sudden chains erupted out of nowhere binding the nine-tails. **"This Chakra?" Not you, Kushina!"**

**x-x **

Naruto watched as the world of his mind dissolved to be replaced by a more calm and bright setting.

"Whew that should hold him for a while." said a voice.

Naruto spun around and thought for a second he saw Hinata, but it couldn't be because this girl had bright red hair. However it was long a beautiful just like hers. "Wahl! Are you that stupid fox?"

"Excuse me?"

"Don't try to hide it ya dam fox! You're trying to seduce me with a wired genjutsu! " But then the woman came up and punched his head down.

"I am not the dam fox gosh I swear you're like your father!"

Naruto looked up when he heard that, not daring to believe his ears.

"Oh ya." "we have never met so it's obvious you wouldn't- but she stopped when Naruto pulled her into an embrace.

"I've always wanted to meet you Mom ya know?" he said tears streaming down his face.

Kushina was shocked but then she smiled and hugged him back. "ya know huh? You really are my son." They talked about many things, how Kushina and Minto met, how Naruto was born and finally why she was here. According to Kushina, Minot had sealed part of her chakra inside of Naruto so that when he was ready to try and fight the nine-tails she could asset him. As she was explaining this she could not help but notice Naruto looked upset. "What's the matter Naruto?"

Naruto brought his knees to his face and put his head on them. "Its something someone said to me before I came here, and I never thought that person of all people would say it."

Kushina got curious, "Is she your girlfriend?"

Naruto's head bolted back into place, "No! She is just a friend and how did ya know it was a girl?"

Kushina laughed, "Call it a woman's intuition."

Naruto returned to hanging his head, "But I did have a crush on her at one point."

"What happened?"

Naruto's face lit up and he went into a long monologue about Hinata down to every detail of her features. "She really is great mom, she makes me happy, and it makes me regret all the wasted time I tried to get Sakura's attention."

Kushina asked gently, "Then why are you upset?"

Naruto looked away, "Its because I still care about her, maybe not like before when I wanted to impress her, but we have just been a team for these years…Sakura, me, and Sasuke."

Kushina sighed, "From what I can tell about this girl, she does care about you and I think she was just afraid of losing you as a friend when she said that. What ya need to focus on now if ya want to beat that dam fox is what makes you happy, and this Hinata sounds like exactly what you need."

Naruto hugged her again, "Thanks mom, you and Hinata are really alike, she is kind and genital, and you both have beautiful hair."

Kushina blushed a little at that, Naruto sounded exactly like Minato. "Anyway my chakra is running out so Ill help you beat the nine-tails but for now this is good bye Naruto." She said it with tears in her eyes.

Naruto had tears in his eyes as well he hugged her and the dream like world faded away. "Now when I look at Hinata I can remember you as well mom!" Kushina laughed and Naruto found himself back in the Nine-tails chamber.

x-x

The Nine-tails was still struggling against the chains **"Dam you Kushina!" **he yelled.

Naruto heard his mother's voice inside his head. "Now is your chance Naruto I can't hold him long!."

**"You think you can still win boy? Sasuke betrayed the Leaf because you failed to bring him back that day. The one you love nearly died because you failed to protect her. Even the girl who you saved countless times rejected you, and called you a fox boy!" **

Naruto hesitated at those words. All his failures rushed into his mind he nearly fell over.

"No Naruto you can't falter now**!" **Kushina yelled. "Think about what you have to protect and you will hurt if you fail here!"

Thoughts of Hinata's crying face if he came back dead because Yamato and Bee could not control him flashed through his mind. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" hundreds of Naruto's came out of nowhere and attached themselves to the nine-tails leaking chakra. He then gathered his wind chakra intending to create a very powerful Rasangshuriken. "I promised her I would never let any make her cry again! Now everyone pull!" As he said it he rushed at the Nine-tails and jumped in the air. "This is for Hinata!" and he threw the Rasangshuriken with all his might. It connected with the Nine-tails abdomen and blew him across the hall that was his mind. The force of the blow and with all his clones pulling disconnected the chakra leaking from him and it rushed into Naruto. Naruto looked at himself, the Ninetails chakra had him in a fire like cloak and he felt stronger than ever.

**"I'll kill you Naruto!" **yelled the fox.

However Naruto reactivated the seal pinning the Nine-tails back in its prison. "Not today stupid fox." Before he woke up he saw Kushina cheering him on but felt himself being shook awake. He heard a voice.

"Naruto-Kun!"

x-x

Naruto woke up and much to his surprise he looked up to see Hinata holding his head in her hands. "Hinata what are you- he was cut off when she leaned down and kissed him. Naruto being as tired as he was from his fight accept. Finally they had to breathe. But that did not stop Naruto from pulling Hinata into a giant hug. "Hinata what are you doing here?"

Hinata blushed, she could not tell him yet not here. "Lady Tsunade sent me with some supplies because you were short when you left." She said shyly.

"Well whatever the reason I'm glad you're here!"

Hinata losing all her shyness was so happy that she kissed him again. After that Naruto showed her Yamato and Killer Bee the Nine-tails chakra. They were all impressed of course but Yamato was suddenly called away. Bee noticed that the two wanted to be alone so he rapped something about love and went on his merry way. Naruto then taking Hinata's hand brought her back to his tent where they sat down to talk. "U-um I brought you a bento Naruto-kun." She handed him her home made bento that had been for her but she wanted to give Naruto something as she did not have time to make 2.

"Thanks Hinata! Where is yours?" Hinata just tapped her fingers. "That's OK we can share mine!" Hinata looked up and then hugged Naruto's arm. They ate in silence just appreciating each other company.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"Huh what is it Hinata?"

She wanted to tell him so bad but something else came from her lips. "Did you mean what you said before you ran away?" Naruto scratched his head. Hinata took his face in both her hands and asked out right, "Did you mean it when you said you loved me?"

Naruto not doubting himself anymore kissed her for the third time, this time it was the longest they had ever kissed. When they pulled apart he said, "Yes Hinata, I love you, and I'm so, so sorry for making you wait for me this long. I want to be with you forever, I want to protect you. I Love you Hinata!"

Hinata could not stop the tears of joy but she did not want Naruto to see. Instead she kissed him once more this time with more passion. They went inside the tent and laid down on the mat. The moments that fallowed can only be described as what one can imagine two lovers would do. But that night Naruto and Hinata shamed them all as their love blossomed to new and greater heights. The passion as they showed each other how much they meant to one one another can not be used with simple words. It was if the stars themselves were jealous of their beauty. When they were done Naruto gazed at the beautiful body of the maiden next to him and held her close.

"I will never leave your side again, Hinata."

She buried her face into his strong arms moving as close to him as she could and only said, "Naruto-kun."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Coming to terms**

Konohan the previous day

Hinata was over being angry at Sakura, but she still needed some space from her. However since the situation involved Naruto, she held her tong as she and the rest of the Konohan 11 piled into the Hokage's office. _"Please let Naruto be ok." _ She thought pleading, wondering whether or not she was talking to herself, or actually asking for divine interference. Sakura on the other hand was standing there fidgeting. She had detected the hint of disgust on everyone's face when she had walked in, they obviously were not as forgiving as Hinata, particularly Kiba and Neji.

"Lady Tsunaded," Neji said with a slight bit of impatience in his voice. "Could we please make this meeting as quick as possible? I have some rather important business today." Which actually was not true he just wanted to get away from Sakura before he went berserk on her liker his cousin. Kiba's growl implied something similar.

Tsunade looked at Neji noting his mood, but simply not caring, "There is no way this can be done quickly, this meeting is to determine your units for the unavoidable war." She paused while they took it in; they were going to war…

Shikamaru came out of his lazy tone almost too fast for even him. "Does this have anything to do with Naruto being sent off so suddenly?"

Tsunade smiled, "Well that takes care of the first part of this meeting, yes the enemies target is Naruto, so we had to send him off to a secluded location to be out of danger."

"Where is he?" Hinata spoke up. What was surprising was that she did not hesitate or stammer.

"He is on a remote island on a lake not too far off from the old jinchuriki temples. The temples have the unique ability to suppress tailed beast chakra so no sensory ninja can detect his presence. Don't worry he is well out of harm's way." Tsunaded said.

Hinata racked her brain on how she was going to get to Naruto with this, until she heard Tsunade say Naruto must never know. "We can't lie to Naruto-kun!" she almost yelled, she again thought that if she lied to him he would never forgive her, and that was just too much.

"Calm down Hinata, Tsunade must have her reasons for wanting to keep this from Naruto." Sakura said trying to consul the girl and hopefully mend their friendship.

Do to the stress of finding out Naruto was the reason for this war, and the fact that she couldn't tell him, the last thing she needed was the person who had hurt him beyond measure to consul her. She turned around and yelled at her, "You have no right to be telling me to calm down after what you did to him!" she now most defiantly had tears in her eyes now as the memory came flooding back along with this new information. However she did not move to attack her like before she was not like that, and she regretted it she loathed fighting so instead she just sobbed.

Tsunade was thinking she would have to look into this later but she needed to get the young Hyuuga out of this state first. "Everyone please leave the room except for you Hinata." She said. "I will brief you on your units momentarily.

Sakura did not like the idea of being alone with everyone, but it might be her chance to explain. So she left first and waited for the others in the hall.

As soon as the room was cleared Tsunade spoke, "Hinata what's your current relationship with Naruto? I know you have had a crush on him for a long time, and I know you look up to him, but this is the first time you have openly denied an order. You did not used to do that even when Naruto was involved." Tsunade had not been filled in on the whole story apparently. Yes she knew about the events that took place at the bridge but the more personal details had been left out of the report.

Hinata was still too embarrassed to tell her that she and Naruto were going out now and as far as she knew he felt the same way about her, so the only thing that came out of her mouth was a cross between a sob and cough. However she got control of herself after that and said with a blush, "J-just some new development is all."

Tsunade could tell simply from that, it was more than new development. She sighed and pulled out a scroll jotting something down. Then handing it to Hinata she said, "This will be you're your assignment for the duration of the war."

Hinata took the scroll and read it. When she looked up she could not help but smile. Her mission was to keep Naruto as far away from the war as possible and she was to leave for his location that day. "Tsunade-sama I…

Tsunade gave her a signal to be quite. "I am giving you this mission because it could very well distract Naruto from knowing about the war, thus preventing him from trying to participate. Therefore you are not allowed to give him any information regarding this meeting nor you true purpose, is that clear?"

Hinata nodded furiously the only thing on her mind was being able to be with Naruto, the details could come later.

"You are dismissed."

X-x

No sooner had she said it Hinata ran out the door ignoring the shocked looks on everyone's faces and ran back to the Hyuuga complex. She quickly gathered up some supplies and made herself a lunch but then thought it would be better if she gave it to Naruto, who probably had only ate instant ramen since the day he left. She was about to make one for herself when she heard footsteps. Not wanting to risk it being her father as he would surely disprove of this mission and even more so her relationship with Naruto she grabbed what she had backed and flew out the back entrance. She had just reached the gate when she heard. "Hinata wait!" She stopped and looked around; Sakura was running as fast as she could to catch up with her. Hinata did not know what held her in place, the urge to hit the girl again, or just wanting to get over it as soon as she could. She would rather have thoughts of Naruto then the back lash of what had happened, and she knew she would have to talk to Sakura again anyway. "What do you want Sakura?" Normally she would have added chan she was very good at honorifics but she was obviously still hurt, and the way she said it told Sakura that she had better be fast.

"I am sorry Hinata I was being selfish. When Sasuke left Naruto always trying to impress me it felt good, it felt like I was not alone. I knew that I loved Sasuke but Naruto helped dull that sense of loss even if I did not love him the same way. But then when he started hanging around you, and I saw that he no longer wanted to impress me, I felt alone and I-

"So you were going to steal him away from me just so you could feel better and then dump him when he brought Sasuke back?" Hinata said interrupting Sakura, her voice quivering from sadness and anger.

"No I was…" she did not finish, that actually had been her intent, and the thought sickened her as well. "Hinata please I'm sorry I was so selfish, please!"

Hinata turned away and said, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing too. It should be Naruto. Hasn't he suffered enough Sakura-chan?" She added the chan because she was now only feeling the sadness for Naruto. "He never had any friends, he was always an outcast by the village he to live alone by the time he could go to school. Every day he would put on that brave face of his saying that he would become hokage, but I followed him home one day, and wished to the heavens I did not look inside. Naruto's warm smile was gone, he just sat on his bed with his knees curled up to his face and cried. He cried for hours Sakura, he asked "Why do they look at me like that? Why don't I have parents?" He kept asking himself question someone should never have to ask themselves. I wish now that I would have been more confident and tried to help him, but all I could do was watch, just watch as cried himself to sleep. Then he would wake up the next day only to repeat his false smile and confidence and then go back to that apartment no better than the last day. Then he met Sasuke who had just lost his entire clan so he could relate to him. Naruto wanted badly to be friends with him, I could tell even at a distance, but since he was so popular he decided to make him his rival. Seeing how much you liked him he desperately fought to gain your affections as well, it almost broke my heart. Then it started to turn from a rivalry to actual affection for you, especially after you were put on the same team. That hurt me even more to know he was actually starting to care for you, maybe not romantically but with time it could have been." She paused for a moment tears streaming down her face, "But then when you kissed him I thought he was going to leave me, he really does love you, no matter what he says." She turned to face her once more, "And when he said no to you, you did the worst thing that could have ever been done to him. I was not angry at you, I would have been happy to see Naruto happy even if that meant him never loving me, but I felt his pain when you said that. It was worse than all the times he sat crying alone, in that apartment. I felt his heart break at that, he had always been so strong before but that pushed him over the edge. I don't need Byagugan to be able to tell that. So I ask again Sakura-chan hasn't Naruto suffered enough already?"

Sakura looked Hinata in the eyes, the tears adding a sparkled to the lavender pupils. All this time she had thought Naruto was just some annoying kid but it had all been a front to hide his pain, she did not know what to say, or what to do, so she hugged Hinata and said, "Hinata I am so sorry, I was too ignorant to realize just how much Naruto has been through. Now I realize even if I did love him the way you do, I don't deserve him, he deserves someone like you who saw his pain and loved him for his strength before anyone, and especially myself saw it. I was so blinded by my selfishness that I wanted to take him from you. BAKA! I wish I could have seen it before now. Now I've lost Sasuke and Naruto."

Hinata put her hands on Sakura shoulders and shook her head. "You have not lost either of them! Naruto still cares about, and He will bring Sasuke back because that's-

"His ninja way." Sakura finished "Ya I know." She said smiling. They embraced once more and Hinata ran down the road heading for the coast as Sakura watched.

x-x

She turned around and was surprised to see that everyone including Tsunade had been watching the whole thing. Sakura look embarrassed I guess you all are still mad huh?"

Kiba was the first to speak up, "Neh as much as I would like to pound you, I've no interest in fighting anyone Tsunade trained." he said shrugging his shoulders. The rest of the group nodded except for Ino who said,

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again billboard brow!" Sakura Laughed because she knew Ino meant well but stopped when she saw Neji still had not answered.

"Um Neji?" she asked.

Neji sighed, "As long as Lady Hinata is happy, I see no reason to remain angry with you." he said. With that he walked away heading for his duties for the war effort. Everyone else soon left as well except for Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sema?" Tsunade had a pissed off look on her face.

'Your teammates may have forgiven you but I have not had my crack at you yet…" she said. Sakura shivered as she fallowed Tsunade back to the mission room and found a massive amount of paper work, most of which were Tsunade's debts, piled on the desk. "Get to work because you still have to meet up with medical unit when you're done."

Sakura groaned.

x-x

It was not very hard to track down the place Tsunade had mentioned and before she knew it, Hinata and Naruto were setting down sharing the Bento she made. When they went into the tent, all other thoughts left her mind. She and Naruto were showing the ultimate depths of their love and she could not be happier. When they finished and Naruto said he would never leave her side however, she felt both happiness and that ping of guilt at not being able to tell him her true reason for being here. So she buried her face in his arms to hide her guilty look and simply said, "Naruto-kun…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Brothers**

Naruto woke up in a cold sweat. He had had a horrible nightmare. He saw his friends dying left and right till finally only Hinata was by his side, but she too fell pierced through the heart by monstrous looking woodstyle attacks. As he sat there holding her begging her not go he looked up and saw something that made the nine-tails look like a joke. It had one eye and ten-tails, Tobi and someone else stood atop it laughing. Just then he saw the moon turn red and everything faded, and that's when he woke up. He had woken up so suddenly that he forgot that Hinata was asleep beside him and she was a little more than shocked to her rough awakening.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata looked at Naruto he was shaking all over his eyes wide open even though they had just woke up. But when she addressed him again he still could not form any words, instead he just cried. Hinata instantly became worried that he might have detected what was going on outside their secluded island and wrapped her arms around him doing her best to comfort him. "It's ok Naruto-kun, I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you."

Naruto embraced her like his life depended on it, "I thought I lost you Hinata, I don't know what I would do if that were true. Please don't ever leave me!" He said through his tears.

Hinata held him all the more closer, "It was just a dream Naruto-kun, I'm not going anywhere, I promised to always walk by your side, and I never go back on my word because that's my...our ninja way." she said. Naruto calmed down after that but he still looked like something was bothering him so Hinata continued. "We should probably go look for Captain Yamato Guy-sensei, and Lord Bee, before they come looking for us." She noted to the fact that they were both still naked from last nights...well ya know, activities. Naruto nodded and so they got dressed and headed out for the day.

"By the way Hinata, how long are ya going to be here?" Naruto asked dreading if she had to leave right after she got here.

"Do not trouble your youth Naruto!" and out of nowhere cam Guy-sensei.

"Oh bushy brow-sensei, where is Captain Yamato?" Naruto asked. "Also why don't I need to worry?"

Guy laughed, "Because Hinata is mine and Yamatos replacement! We got called back to the village on some urgent business of youth! Yamato was so fired up he left last night!" Of course that last bit was a lie, somehow Kabuto had infiltrated the Island and Yamato had been captured, but Guy having received orders from Tsunade via messenger knew better than to tell Naruto that. However him being called back was the truth as he had defeated Kisame Hoshigaki of the Akatsuki, he now had new information to report on the enemy's strength.

"She's whhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaattttttt?" Naruto asked. Dragging the out both out of happiness and out of shock.

"That's right! Hinata did not tell you? She is going to keep you company while you're stationed here! Good luck!" with that, Guy sped off in the direction of the Leaf with a loud "HOWL YOUTH!"

As soon as he was gone Naruto pulled Hinata into a long kiss out of sheer joy. "So..."he said sarcastically. "When were ya going to tell me that you were sent her for that?"

Hinata blushed tapping her fingers. "I-I was going to tell you Naruto-kun but we…

He silenced her with a hug. "I am happy Hinata, more then I have ever been in my life."

Hinata smiled brightly at his embrace, "I love you Naruto-kun!"

X-x

Weeks passed with a messenger being sent every now and again with new orders from Tsunade. The reason she was giving for their prolonged stay was that Sasuke had been sighted in the area and Naruto was to find out way. However they had not been able to track him down because Tsunade was of course lying to keep him out of the war. Hinata was impressed Tsunade came up with such a believable lie but could tell something else was bothering Naruto besides not being able to locate Sasuke. She did her best to keep Naruto's mind off his troubles. She wished they had a more suitable living environment as a tent was not exactly spacious. Killer Bee recommended that they build some log cabins. Hinata and Naruto agreed to this but Naruto could not help but wonder why Bee was still here.

"I got a bone to pick with Sasuke ya know, and I want to help ya out fool ya fool." he rapped

"Just as long as I get to fight him!" Naruto laughed he knew Bee was not serious but he appreciated his help nonetheless. Then came the actual building of the cabins which was more difficult than they thought without Yamatos handy woodstyle. It took them a while but they managed it do it within a day with Naruto's clones helping out. "Hehe may as well let this be an outpost since we went through all the trouble." Naruto mused.

Now that they had a suitable living area, Hinata was able to cook with the fireplace they had built and so their meal time was often the best part of the day. Naruto even said her cooking was better than ramen! She blushed at that knowing that it took a lot for Naruto to choose anything over ramen. Since Killer Bee had his own cabin Naruto and Hinata were able to continue their nightly adventures shall we say. After about two months of this she noticed something was up. She had not had her girl day for a while, she sent a messenger pigeon to Tsunade about this and what she read made her even happier than when Naruto had confessed to her. According to her diagnostic, Hinata was pregnant. A million thoughts rushed into her mind, was she ready? How would Naruto react? But then a stronger emotion took over, a feeling a joy and happiness. She was going to have Naruto's child. She suddenly burst into tears, she had always wanted Naruto's love but now she would have his love along with his child. She thought the world had stopped just for her to enjoy the moment. But she quickly recovered her senses. _"What do I tell Naruto?" _She decide to wait till they got back to the village to tell him. According to Tsunade the war was going well and would hopefully be over soon. So she thought it best to wait until they were back in the proper environment to tell Naruto, and maybe over a bowl of ramen to dull the shock. She was interrupted however when she heard a loud explosion and rushed to see what it was.

X-x

Naruto was scouting the area when he caught a chakra presence in the area. It felt familiar but more powerful. He entered his Nine-tailed mode to track the presence down faster. He started heading for the waterfall when he was stopped by, "Sasuke!"

It was true Sasuke barred his path and he looked at Naruto with a different gaze from last they met. "Humph so you are here. Is all he said.

"Why are you here? No it does not matter you're coming back to Leaf with me if I have to drag you!" He sped towards Sasuke Rasangan already in hand, thanks to the nine-tails chakra, he did not need his clones to charge up anymore. Sasuke dodged it easily his Shiningan activated.

"Still always jumping before thinking I see fine we can skip the formalities!" He activated his Chidori, and rushed at Naruto. But Naruto was ready for him, he grabbed Sasuke's Chidori arm and then head butted him.

"Ow ow ow!" Naruto said. 'I should have thought that through."

Sasuke clutched his head, the impact disoriented his shiningan, and did Naruto know this would happen? _"He might not be as dumb as I thought." _He shook his head trying to stabilize his vision, but Naruto was quicker with both hands he hit Sasukes's abdomen and shouted "Rasangan barrage!" Sasuke was blown through several tree lines all the way back to the waterfall. Sasuke Picked himself up and felt that 2 of his ribs were broken. Naruto was not done yet however, Sasuke say him above coming at him with many rasangans that looked like were on arms that were a part of a tail. "Shushino!" Sasuke's Shushino managed to throw Naruto back at the tree line thus stopping his assault. . Naruto got up but realized a few of his ribs were broken as well.

Naruto went into Sage mode and attacked again this time with a Rasangshuriken. He was shocked however when it did nothing but get absorbed in Sasukes Shusino. _"Dam how am I supposed to bust that thing open?" _he thought.

**"****Ha ha even with a piece of my chakra you can't simply "bust open" a shushino kid." **

"Aggg not now stupid fox!" he yelled, as he dodged an incoming arrow from Sasukes new shield. The arrow in question took out a mile's worth of trees leaving nothing but stumps and a rather large trench. "I'll bring Sasuke back no matter what so keep your mouth shut."

**"****Idiot, however I guess I should not be surprised, you have always been like that." **

"What are you getting at fox?"

**"****I have a name you know."**

Naruto was shocked at the response, what did the fox want in the middle of a battle? But then he thought, _"All this time I never even bothered to ask if the fox had a name, no wonder he so moody all the time." _"Ok what's your name but make it quick, I need to focus on the battle."

**"****You know kid, I used to think you were just like any other human, but the way you act intrigued me. I watched you ever since you were a boy, I thought you were not going to last. I'm not saying I like you or anything nor do I like being cooped up in this mind of yours, but I'm willing to see how we can play this out." **

"What are you getting at ummm...You never told me your name."

The fox held out his fist to Naruto, **"I'm saying I'll be willing to help you out for now and it's Kurama. But if you falter in your resolve I won't hesitate to take over this mind of yours for good." **he said with a sarcastic smile.

Naruto was not sure what to make of this, the fox..or Kurama was actually willing to partner up with him? It seemed too good to be true. But Naruto grinned and bumped fists with him. Then Undoing the seal he said Let go Kurama!" Then they linked and Naruto was covered in what was similar to the nine-tails cloak but this time it was yellow, and it was like Sasuke's Sushino.

Sasuke was dumb founded, the Nine-tails was actually working with Naruto? But that did not matter not with Shushino. He lunged at Naruto. "Naruto!" he shouted.

Naruto took a deep breath and together with Kurma, shouted Tailed Beast Bomb!" everything went dark after that.

x-x

Hinata saw a flash of light and then the entire Island shook, then she was knocked off her feet and became unconscious. She had only been out for a few minutes when she came to, and when she looked around the forest she had been in could not really be called that anymore. The entire landscape was ravaged as if by a hurricane, not even the tree stumps survived. She got to her feet but felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She had twisted it, but there was no time for that she had to find Naruto. She grabbed a branch a made a makeshift brace and slowly hobbled to the waterfall. she was greeted by the sight of Naruto and Sasuke both battered, bloody and unconscious lying in the water. But they suddenly both stirred.

"Aggg that really hurt ya know." Naruto said.

"Speak for yourself, all my ribs are broken I can't even move." Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke why did you come here?"

Sasuke said nothing for a moment and then, "It's because I had to beat you."

"For the Akatsuki?'

Sasuke managed to shake his head. "No it's because I intended to become Hokage." Naruto did not know what to say to that so he remained silent. "I realized something Naruto. Itchie was hated because he killed my clan to save the Leaf, he managed to divert a war by taking on all that hate himself. I realized for the sake of peace Itchie would go so far to kill even his own clan and be hated for it. If I destroyed the Leaf it would dishonor his sacrifice so I vowed to protect what he had protected. However I also knew that hate inevitably sprouts from somewhere, so I concluded that to stop the hatred from spreading I would to what Itche did and take on that hate. I was going to forcibly make myself Hokage and then everyone would be too busy hating me to hate each other and thus I thought I could accomplish peace. But with you around I knew that was impossible, because you would rather fight that hatred instead of let someone take it. So it was with a heavy heart that I intended to kill you." Sasuke managed to look at Naruto, and said, "but I now realize I could never kill the only friend I ever had."

Naruto grinned, "You can thank me when we get back to the Leaf, and apologize to Sakura."

Sasuke smiled, "Sakura…"

They both became unconscious again and Hinata limped over to Naruto. She was not as skilled as Sakura when it came to medical ninjutsu but she managed to stop the bleeding and mend some of the bones. She then applied the same treatment to Sasuke. Then just managing to pull them both out of the water she laid down next to Naruto and fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: The First Task**

Hinata woke up and found that she, Naruto, and Sasuke were back at the cabin. Sasuke was on the coach bandaged up and everything and she and Naruto were on the bed. Naruto was still out cold but he also seemed too bandaged and she found she was hugging him. She almost let go do to the shock of being so close, which she thought was odd since they slept together all the time now. _"Wait when did we get a coach?"_ she thought. She shook her head there would be time for that later. She continued to hold Naruto, she knew he was still alive but seeing him hurt made her worried. Sasuke was the first to wake up and looking over and seeing her and Naruto together he laughed.

"So he finally got it through his thick head." he said though his laughter. Hinata did not reply she did not trust Sasuke, she did not trust anyone who would hurt Naruto so she just moved closer to him. Sasuke continued, "Where are we?" It was then Killer Bee walked in.

"You are at our outpost fool ya fool." Sasuke knowing that Bee had a grudge against him for that little incident in the Cloud village was at first on high guard. But then once he saw that he was bandaged up he relaxed. "That's right fool ya fool I bandaged you and Naruto boy up and brought ya back here, so you got nothing to fear." he rapped.

"Humph not mad that I tried to kidnap you?"

Killer Bee looked solemn for a moment but then said, "Naruto boy trusts you fool ya fool, so I will too." With that he went over to Naruto and rather less then gently woke him up.

"Aggggg! Uncle Bee what you do that for?" Naruto asked rubbing his head and almost pushing Hinata off him. When he saw that she was clinging to him like a leech, he calmed down and put one arm around her. "I'm fine Hinata." he said reassuring her a little but she still held to him like a magnet. _"Guess I worried her a bit too much, I'll have to work on that." _he thought.

**"****Hold on to this one kid, for a human she isn't half bad." **Naruto laughed, it was weird for the fox or Kurama to be talking so casually. "Hey Kurama, why did you help me?"

Kurama grunted, **"I told you, I still don't like you, I'm merely interested to see how this plays out, and you're not like other humans so it might be more interesting if I lend you a hand." **

Naruto could tell he was not telling him everything but he let it go for now. "Hehe I told you Id do something about all that hate." Naruto thought he saw Kurama smile. They did not talk much after that Hinata just kept hugging Naruto, Sasuke went to sleep and Killer Bee went off to look for food. Finally Naruto fell asleep exhausted from the fight. Hinata snuggled up to him and kissed his forehead. _Please be more careful next time Naruto-kun."_ she thought.

x-x

Naruto and Sasuke managed to recover quite quickly, only a matter a 3 days in bed and they were up and about like nothing ever happened. Well I guess we should head back to the Leaf and tell granny mission accomplished!" Naruto said grinning.

Sasuke stared at him his eyebrows raised, "You mean you don't know?" he asked.

"Eh? know what Sasuke?" Naruto replied.

Hinata overhearing the conversation ran outside, "Sasuke don't!" But it was too late, Sasuke explained that the reason he had a change of heart and knew where Naruto was located was because he and a reanimated Itchie had fought and defeated Kabuto, who had captured Captain Yamato and therefore knew where Naruto was after probing his mind. He then explained to him about the war and how Tobi was leading it.

As soon as he was done Naruto looked at Hinata his face showing more shock than anger. "Why didn't you tell me Hinata?"

Hinata had tears in her eyes as she spoke, "Please Naruto-kun Tsunade told me not to, I wanted to but it was an order. But most of all…." She ran up and hugged him as tight as she could, "I dont want to see you get hurt!"

Naruto looked at the girl who was holding him so tight it was hard to breathe, he sighed and loosened her grip and held her at arm's length. "I'm not upset that I did not know about the war, I'm upset because you did not tell me, from now on I don't want there to be any lies between us…" he lifted her chin ever so slightly, and said, "Especially between us." and he kissed her right in front of Sasuke and Bee. They had only ever kissed alone so Hinata was embarrassed at first, but when he pulled her close the only thing that mattered was that he still loved her so she returned the passion.

"This is nice and all but shouldn't we get going?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

They pulled apart forgetting he was there for a moment and Naruto grinned, "Ya lets go!"

x-x

Naruto originally suggested they head back to the Leaf bust Sasuke said no one would be there. They would either be at the battle field or at Allied Shin obi HQ. They decided to head for the HQ. They were about halfway to the border when they were stopped Shino, Kiba, Lee, Choji, Shikamaru, Neji, and Sai. Shikamaru raised his hand,

"Hold it Naruto." he said.

Naruto was glad to see his friends but he needed to see Tsunade right away, "What's the big idea guys? We need to see granny right now!"

Shikamaru sighed, "It's a drag but we have been ordered to stop you from reaching the battle field, and are to use force if necessary, the Raikage even ordered us to stop you Lord Bee."

"What about Hinata and Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Hinata is to remain outside the battle as well and continue her previous mission which was too keeping you distracted, as for Sasuke we need to take him into custody for crimes against the Leaf."

"I already beat the crap out him what more do they want?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke got a little angry at that, "What you talking about? Your ass was out cold just like mine!" He and Naruto glared at each other for a minute then realized they still had a situation.

Naruto turned back to Shikamaru, "If you guys dont move I will make you move. I will warn you I'm a lot stronger since you last saw me."

"We are well aware you have the Nine-tails chakra now but it is still the 7 of us against the 3 of you, Lord bee, you, and Sasuke."

"Sasuke laughed at that, "You seem to forget I'm the one who killed Danzo"

"Regardless I know how your shiningan works and have prepared the requirements to beat it."

Hinata could not take it anymore, she stood between Shikamaru and Naruto said, "If you fight Naruto-kun you will have to fight me too!" Shikamaru to say the least was stunned, as was everyone else.

"Dam it Hinata this is for his safety move!" Kiba said.

Neji noticed that Hinata seemed to need more effort to say that then she should, he activated his Beyagugan to look her over. Then he saw that there were 2 chakra flows, the second was faint but it was growing slowly as the minutes passed. _"Dam that idiot! Does he know about this?" _he thought. Neji pulled Shikamaru aside and whispered something in his ear.

Shikamaru's eyes widened and he looked over at Hinata, "Are you sure?' he whispered.

"Positive, my Beygugan does not lie." he replied.

_"__Baka! We can't risk Hinata getting involved if she is pregnant. Now that I look at her she is having trouble just keeping up with them." _Shikamaru thought to himself. "Let them pass." He finally said.

"Shikamaru are you nu-

"Just do it!" Shikamaru was not known to lose his cool very often, but when he did, he meant it. Kiba shut up and stepped aside with a growl. The others did the wondering what was going on. Shikamaru walked over to Naruto and whispered in his ear, "I'm not doing this for you, so make it count."

Naruto a little confused grinned and said, "I will!" With that he Sasuke, Hinata and Bee moved on. As Hinata passed by Neji he saw a look that said, "I know." Hinata would have to explain later and with Naruto Sasuke and Bee, disappeared among the trees.

"Shikamaru…." Kiba growled, "You better have a good reason for letting them go or I'll-

He was cut off when Neji said outright, "Lady Hinata is pregnant." Everyone's Jaw dropped to the ground in unison, and they all said, 'SHE'S WHAT?!"

X-X

They finally arrived at the HQ and the raikage looked extremely pissed. Sakura and Ino were also there as well as Tsunade. Tsunade was about to say something when Sakura blurted out, "Sasuke?"

Sasuke said nothing, actually he did not really know what to say, but he did not need to because Sakura ran up and hugged him. Sasuke was dumbfounded, _"How can she act like this after everything I did?" _Then he found out why, he felt Sakura's fist connect with his jaw and he was thrown across the room.

"That's for all your crap you jerk!"

"Sakura I- Sasuke began but was again silenced when she hugged him yet again.

"Don't ever leave me again." she whispered. Sasuke was stunned, but he returned her embrace.

"This is nice and all but Sasuke if you want to stay out of jail I suggest you cough up what you know about Madera's plans.

"Eh who is Madera?" Naruto asked.

"And you Naruto we have yet to discuss what we are going to with you so id keep quite if I were you." Tsunade said. Naruto gulped. Sasuke then explained all the event leading up to his fight with Naruto, including that Kabuto was behind the Reanimation, and that he and Itache had stopped him. But that was about all he knew.

"I see." Tsunade said. Then turning to Naruto she yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing? This entire war is too keeping you out of enemy hands and you come running into their arms?" Tsunade looked to see Hinata was hiding behind Naruto, she was tempted to say something to her about keeping Naruto away but then remembered certain detail that she should probably avoid mentioning.

Naruto spoke with a slight bit of anger in his voice, "Granny, how can you expect me to stand by while people are dying because of me?"

"If you get captured then their sacrifice will have been for nothing!" Tsunade replied.

"I'm not that easy to kill now." He asked Kurama to link with him and everyone felt the overwhelming power flowing from him. The rest of the conversation slowly tipped to letting Naruto go and finally every concluded he would be more useful on then away from the battle. Tsundae told them that their assignment was to track down Madera and either kill him or capture him. She dismissed them after that saying they were to rest there for the night and head out tomorrow. Of course they were all given separate rooms but Naruto managed to sneak into Hinata's room and they soon fell asleep in each other's arms.

x-x

Sasuke stared up at the ceiling surprised he had got off so easy, well except for the massive pain in his jaw, when he heard a knock at the door. "Can I come in?" It was Sakura; Sasuke instead of answering got up and opened the door himself. "Thanks." They sat in silence for a while until Sakura said, "What made you come back?"

Sasuke could not help but smile, "Well Naruto obviously, that guy is something else." He then told her the same story he told Naruto about putting all the hate on himself, and creating a peaceful world through fear. When he was done he asked, "If I had succeeded, would you have hated me as well?"

Sakura did not know how to answer that, the thought of Naruto being killed by Sasuke dragged at her feelings for him. Could she still love a man who killed his best friend? So she simply said, "That does not matter, you didn't so we don't have to worry about what would have happened." They were quiet again after that until finally Sakura said, "I really do love you Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke let out a small laugh, "I don't deserve to be loved, not after what I've done, and you know Naruto loves you, he deserves you more than I do."

Sakura hugged his arm, much to Sasukes surprise, "Than we are in the same boat because I don't deserve him." She explained the events that took place after they had left the bridge, and how Naruto had come to love Hinata, enough so to which he rejected her a second time.

Sasuke laughed again, 'So I guess he really was serious with her when he kissed her." He looked down at the pinkette who was still hugging his arm. She had a tear in her eye. "Sakura…"

She looked up at him, "Would you kiss me?" she asked. Before he could reply she planted her lips on his.

His first reaction was to push her away, but he had done that enough already, and…_"I'm tired of being alone." _He thought. Then like Hinata and Naruto before them they showed each other their love, enjoying finally being together. Sasuke held Sakura's head close to him and with tears in his eyes he said, "I am so sorry Sakura, it seems I was a bigger idiot then Naruto. Both you and him went through so much pain because of me I-

Sakura lifted her head and kissed him again, "I know Sasuke-kun, I know."


	13. Chapter 13

Authors note: Hey guys thanks for reading I hope you all are enjoying the story! I know a lot of people are reading this so I'd like to ask for some more reviews if you please, give me advice tell me what ya think all that jazz. To the people that have reviewed, I appreciate the positive feedback it helps me write! Keep it coming. A little note about this chapter though Hinata does not talk much this is a battle chapter but I tried throwing some NH in there don't worry we will get to the real good stuff soon!

**Chapter 13: Obito and Madara **

Naruto woke up and to his delight found Hinata was snuggling up to him. He kissed her forehead, and even though she was asleep she smiled and almost cat like nudged his head with hers. _"I can't believe I wasted all that time over Sakura with a simple crush when I could of had this angel before I even met her." _he thought to himself. He slowly got up so as not to wake her, and as he did he noticed she whimpered a little as if she knew he was no longer there. Although Naruto knew Hinata was strong he noticed that he had become a lot more protective of her since their relationship became more than friends.

"Naruto-kun?"

He heard her voice and cursed his luck. "Hinata! I ummm I was just, that is, well you see-

She got up walked over and hugged him, "You were going to leave without me weren't you?"

The cat was out of the bag, he was not surprised though as she had been following him all his life, so she probably knew him better than he did. "Hinata, every time I'm in danger you have nearly lost your life, now that I know the reason if I lost you now I could not live with myself please just stay here where it's safe." he told her hugging her back.

Hinata shook her head tears in her eyes, "Please Naruto-kun if I stayed here while you're off fighting, I would die of worry, they are after you so they will do anything to get you, no matter what I can't let them have you! Please don't leave me here only for you to come back to me in a bag!" she pleaded.

Naruto seeing her tears cursed himself, "Dam it, now ive gone and made you cry despite what I promised…" he held her close to his chest and said, "Fine but promise me you will stay out of the battle and watch from a safe distance with your Byakugan." She nodded and tightened her grip around him. Naruto was happy she cared about him so much, "Hinata…" She looked up at him. "I only ask this because I realize now how much I love you for always being there. When this battle is over I'll show you properly what you mean to me."

Her heart skipped a beat when he said he loved her again. "I love you too Naruto-kun!" she was bit more rough then she had intended and they were sent crashing to the floor kissing passionately.

x-x

The team consisted of Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi as the leader. based on what Sasuke has said about Kabuto's location they reasoned that Madara kept his base nearby as well. They had reached enemy territory when they halted. There in the clearing stood Madara his mask covering his face.

"Great! now to rip that mask off of ya!" Naruto said grinning. He lunged at Madara his first nine tailed Chakra state active.

Madara stood there unimpressed. 'I see the Nine-tails has come out to play, how convenient for me." he grabbed Naruto's incoming Rasangan arm and threw him back at his comrades. However Sasuke was next his hand sparking from his chidori. At first it looked like his attack pierced his chest but Sasuke only felt air. "Hmph I see that unlike Itache you lack the convection to see things through." With that he grabbed Sasuke's arm and twisted it behind his back and broke it. Sasuke grunted in pain, but he was not done yet. "Amaterasu!" Instantly it looked as if Madara was consumed by the black flames. But when they looked again he had vanished completely. He materialized behind Sasuke and with his weird looking weapon sent him flying through the trees.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. This time she attacked but just like before her fist went through him and made a crater in the ground below. "Wha- before she could finish Madara grabbed her by the neck intending to strangle her. He was forced to let her go however when Sasuke and Naruto charged at him from both sides although his right arm was broke he managed a chidori with his left and Naruto and another Rasangan. Right before they hit him he vanished again and ironically Naruto and Sasuke clashed once more blowing away the immediate area of trees and Sakura through them.

Hinata ran over to Sakura and applied some emergency treatment but thankfully Sakura was tougher then she looked and got back to her feet with just some difficulty. They all regrouped and Naruto said,

"Damn I can't hit him what's going on?"

Kakashi had been observing the entire fight and he had a theory though the odds of it were and had to be zero. "Naruto, Sasuke attack him at the same time again, I want to try something." As he explained his plan Sakura managed to heal Sasuke's broken arm to a point where he could at least use it.

Finally Madara appeared again apparently he had been recovering some of his chakra. "Are you done now? you can't hit me." he said. He sighed when he saw Naruto and Sasuke coming at him again. He used his teleporting ability just before they hit but was shocked when Sasuke and Naruto appeared on the other side of his dimension warping as well.

"Rasangan!"

"Chidori!" and they hit his mask full force and he was blown back to the real world and across the clearing. When the dust settled, Madara's Mask was completely destroyed but he himself was otherwise uninjured. He stood up and his face was revealed to them.

Kakashi looked on in awe as the man before him became clear, not believing his eyes he said, "Obito?"

x-x

The man named Obito laughed, "After all this time it took seeing my face for you to recognize me Kakashi?"

"You were dead." Kakashi replied.

"Obito looked away for a moment and then said, "I wish I had died back then."

"Ummmm Kakashi-sensei, who is this guy?" Naruto asked.

Obito answered him, "I was a lot like you Naruto I wanted to be Hokage, I wanted a lot of things. My ideal were similar to yours, I even was bit overdramatic, until that day…" He then explained how the Real Madara old and battered, had found him moments before death and rescued him. He had told Obito as payment for saving him he was to be his servant in project Tsukuyomi. Obito had at first refused of course.

"Then why are you against us now?" Kakashi asked.

Obito looked at him his face full of hate, "It's because you let Rin die!" Everyone was silent when all of a sudden another man appeared.

"Having fun Obito?" the man asked.

Obito scoffed, "What took you so long?"

the man shrugged, " I had to deal with the 5 kage and they were more trouble than they were worth."

"What the hell you talking about? and Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked, boiling with rage when the man said that about Tsunade and Gaara.

the man looked at him and said, "I defeated your precious Kage and I am Madara Uchia." He looked back to Obito, "Now I think its time we used that."

"We don't have the 8 or 9 tails though."

"It does not matter the plan will work if we have a piece of their chakra but it will take longer to charge, and with those two sealed in those ninja tools and the piece of the eight tails we got from Sasuke we can proceed."

Obito grunted, "Fine." He waved the hands signs together and brought his hand to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" Everyone was blown away as the Gedo Statue appeared...


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: The Ten-Tails Jinchuriki**

Sasuke got up slowly; the blast had knocked him out. When he gathered his wits there stood an enormous statue, and Madara and Obito were atop it. Suddenly the statue began to act weirdly, as if it were having seizure. There was a flash of light and the statue vanished leaving behind,

"What the hell is that?!" Naruto asked. When the statue had first been summoned he had shielded Hinata by taking the full force of the blast. The aftershock had made her faint but she was otherwise unharmed. The same could be said for Naruto. His back had a huge gash in it and his chakra was trying rapidly to heal it but he needed medical attention now. To Sasuke's surprise he had moved without thinking and found that Sakura was below him also unconscious and he felt his legs give out. His abdomen was spilling forth blood the blast had pierced him like a sword and he lost a huge amount of blood in a short time. Sasuke breathing heavily looked to see what Naruto was talking about. In place of the statue there stood what can only be described as a monster.

**"****That's the Ten-Tails you idiot!" **

Naruto fell to his knees do to his own loss of blood, "What is the Ten-Tails Kurama?" Naruto asked with effort.

**It's the embodiment of chakra, the tailed beasts were created so that it could never be revived, but they somehow did it."**

Obito looked at Naruto, "Now I think it's time we ended this." The ten-tails turned its attention Naruto and the rest, and then it brought one its tails down intending to crush them.

Kakashi who had managed to avoid the blast, was not about to let that happen. Activating His Shringan, he used it to pull the four young ninja into the alternate dimension used by Obito... Then he did the same with himself.

"Humph what now Obito?" Madara asked.

"We wait, they can't hide in that dimension forever and as more time passes the closer we are to our goal."

x-x

Hinata woke up and looked around; this was definitely not the forest they had been in earlier. She shook her head first thing was find Naruto. She did not have to look very far, Naruto was laying face down right next to her, then she saw the huge gash in his back but noticed she was unharmed. Quickly applying medical jutsu, she cured herself, _No Naruto-kun I'm supposed to protect you!" _she thought. She managed to seal his wound but he still had lost at lot of blood so he would not get up for a while. She looked around saw that Sakura had woken up and she was applying treatment to Sasuke as well. It seemed that like Naruto, Sasuke had also taken the attack in order to protect Sakura. Sasuke was still conscious and he was saying something to Sakura but she told him to shut up so she could concentrate. Hinata was jealous she wished Naruto would say something, anything to her but she settled for putting his head on her lap and running her hand through his spiky blond hair. Though his face was battered, she could not help but lean down and kiss him and to her surprise, she felt his arms pulling her in closer.

"Thank you Hinata." he said as the pulled away.

Hinata was so happy, she hugged him till he had to say stop for lack of air. Embarrassed she said, "Naruto-kun where are we?"

Sasuke answered that, "We are in an alternate dimension that Obito uses to escape and avoid attacks, isn't that right Kakashi?" Kakashi who had been sitting not too far off nodded.

"I had to get you away from that things attack or you all would have died."

Naruto replied, "That monster is the Ten-Tails." He explained what Kurama said to him and when he was finished everyone felt a shiver go down their spine. Kakashi then he in his heard a voice in his head. "Kakashi the allied shinobi forces have arrived at your destination but where are you?" It was Shikaku. Kakashi explained the situation and while he caught his breath, Shikaku explained his plan. Kakashi nodded and said, time to head back."

X-X

Neji could not believe his eyes and he had Byakugan. The thing in front of him was massive; Neji almost mistook it for a mountain. Then as if out of nowhere, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Hinata appeared _"Why is Lady Hinata hear with her condition?" _He thought angrily. He composed himself; he would beat the crap out of Naruto later.

"About time you guys show up!" Naruto said grinning.

"Well you were difficult to find until that blast wiped out the forest." Neji replied. "Also who could miss that thing?" He pointed to the ten-tails.

Kakashi saw his chance "I'm sure you know what it is by now?" Neji nodded. He and the rest had been briefed by Shikaku telepathically. "Then you know the plan?"

"Yes."

"Ahhh I see that not only did you decide to come back, you brought some friends." It was Obito. "But it does not matter; nothing can stop what's coming now.

Naruto and Kurama fused this time and he said, "You want to bet?" he yelled at him. Then the entire allied forces attacked. First the Stone ninja made the ground around the beast collapse, then other ninja restricted its movements anyway they could, Everyone else throw their most powerful jutsu. The blast was incredible the entire battle field became dismantled, the earth shook and everyone was blasted back from the shook.

Hinata having promised not to go with them saw Naruto falling; she quickly gained enough momentum to rush to him before he hit the ground, hitting her instead. Naruto shook his head and rubbed where he had fallen but to his surprise felt something a lot more soft. He could not tell what it was so he just kept feeling around and tried squeezing it a few times.

"Eh? what is this?' He also noticed he was not sitting on hard ground either. He looked down and saw Hinata, her face was a crimson red and she seemed to be in pain, bit why did it look like she was enjoying it?

"Naruto-kun…" she said with some effort.

All of sudden he felt a fist connect with his face, "Get your perverted hands off Lady Hinata!" Neji yelled.

Naruto was blown back several feet and he realized what he had been doing, "Hinata! I'm sorry! I-

He was cut off when she said her face still red and her fingers tapping, "It's Ok as long as it's Naruto-kun…"

Neji did the most epic face palm anyone had ever seen. _"Great he is turning Hinata-sema into a pervert as well." _ He thoughts were short lived however when the dust settled. Much to everyone's dismay there was Obito, Madara and the Ten-tails all completely unharmed.

Obito laughed, "You call that an attack? Let us show you what true power is!" Then the beast fired a massive tailed beast bomb but not at them…

Ino and Shikamaru watched in horror as it headed in the direction of the HQ. "DAD!" They both screamed, but it was no use, they saw the blast even from there and knew that everyone in the HQ had been killed...

But Obito was not done yet. "Now the time has come." Then the beast vanished. There was a flash of light a loud deafening scream and Obito stood there, Madara beside him but he looked different than before... His body was white and he had something sticking out of his upper back. Black orbs surrounded him and he carried a staff in his left hand...

Madara scoffed, "That was not part of the plan Obito."

"Shut up, I'll take care of this myself, I don't need you."

Madara thought for a moment, _"I guess it won't matter who is the Jinchuriki as long as project tsukuyomi succeeds, plus I always have that plan." _"Fine do what you want but remember why we are here." With that he went and set on a rock uninterested in anyone who might dare attack him.

Obito had noticed the affection between the Hyuga girl and Naruto and he decided to use that to his advantage. "Now I will take away the one you love, like the one I loved was taken from me!" He Lunged at Hinata, Naruto was still dazed from Neji's punch and he used a lot of chakra in that all out attack so he could not reach her.

Kakashi saw Obito's intent and shouted, "Obito don't do it!" There was a piercing noise and blood was splattered, and there in between Obitos new weapon. stood Neji, Obito ripped his weapon out and Neji fell on Hinata, he had been pierced straight through the heart.

Naruto rushed over and grabbed his shoulders, "Why Neji? It should have been me! I'm supposed to protect Hinata!"

Neji smiled his all seeing vision dimmed, "I did it because you have more than Lady Hinata to protect now, I could not let you go off and die now."

"What are you talking about Neji? Medical team! Sakura! Where the hell are you?"

With the last ounce of his strength Neji punched Naruto lightly on the head. "You really are slow, but you will find out soon enough." He gazed at the sky as a bird passed by, then looking at Hinata he said, "I wish I could have met them." His arm fell to the ground and the life left him.

x-x

Naruto held Neji's head and through his tears he said, "Come on Neji, weren't you going to change the destiny of the Hyuga? Didn't you want to change your fate?" but Neji's eyes stared without seeing his lifeless body hung limp in Naruto's arms.

"Now you see how cruel the world is Naruto, hate cannot be changed, there will always be death and those who are left behind who must endure that pain of loss. Why fight anymore Naruto? All of this can end right now if you join me."

Naruto seriously considered it, _"I failed again, I can't protect Hinata, I could not save Neji and I failed to stop Sasuke from going down that path." _

**"****Is that** **it Naruto?"** Kurama's voice rang in his ear. "**Is that really all it takes to sway you? Did I not say something similar when we fought? Did Sasuke not let go of his hate? Is Hinata not alive? Humph maybe I was wrong about you."**

He was silent after that but Naruto tried to process his words. Then he felt a pain in his cheek and saw Hinata had slapped him.

Tears in her eyes she said, "Don't you see Naruto-kun? Brother Neji died because he saw his dream come true already. He thought fate was impossible to change, But you showed him otherwise, he changed his fate by following what you told him. He was no longer the person you fought but a friend and ally who would lay his life down for you. Aside from that…" she leaned in and kissed him, she knew now might be her only chance, "He did it to protect our family…"

Naruto looked at her his eyes widened in shock and the tears flowed harder.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I'm pregnant..."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 Obito Defeated**

Naruto could not believe what he had just heared, Hinata was pregnant with his child. At first he was over joyed, then remembering they were in the middle of a battle and Obito was only a few yards away he came back to his senses, "Hinata take Neji and get as far away from here as possible." He told her.

Hinata was shocked that he would tell her to leave at such a point in time, was he angry? Should she not have told him? She hugged him and wept some more, she had just lost Neji she could not leave Naruto now she needed him close to comfort her. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun! Please don't be mad, I just want us to be happy!"

Naruto made the girl let go of him and held her firmly but gently so he could look her in the eyes, "Hinata, it because I want us to be happy that you need to leave, you need to be safe for both your sake and..." He rubbed her womb and smiled tears still streaming from his face that were both happy and sad, "...our child's"

Hinata could not help herself she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and said, "I love you Naruto-kun, I love you so much!"

Naruto returns the embrace, "please Hinata, I'll come for you when this is over." Hinata finally managed to let go and nodding she got up picked up Neji and headed for the back lines of the allied Shinobi force. That way she could at least keep an eye on Naruto.

When she got to the front, everyone epically Lee and Tenten could not hold back their tears, they all gatherd around their old friend and said their good byes. They laid him on a stretcher and co reed his body. They would give e him a prober buriel away from here when they returned to the Leaf.

"He was the embodiment of youth a true ninja." Lee said

"He always made up the slack for the rest of us." Said Tenten. The rest of the group all said something similar finally Hinata kneeling beside him hugged his lifeless body,

"I will always love you brother." Then they heared a tremendous explosion.

X-x

Sasuke watched the whole event through his Sharingan, Sakura was holding his arm tightly, he looked down at her and thought to himself, _"Naruto is going to be a dad huh? I wonder..." _He shook his head. What kind of father would he make? After everything he had done he did not even deserve to be with Sakura much less a family. He did not know how to react to Neji's death either, he barely knew the guy. He sighed, "Sakura I want you to get out of here as well."

Sakura looked up at him and shook her head, "I lost you once I don't want to lose you again! Please let me stay and help." She said.

Sasuke was glad that dispite everything she and Naruto stop cared about him, he held Sakura close and said, "Sakura even with my crimes cleared you must you understand the village will never accept me. They are not like you and Naruto, they will not be sawyed so easily."

"Then we will make them accept you! Naruto did it, why can't you?"

"I'm not Naruto!" He yelled.

Sakura took a step back her feelings hurt by Sasuke's harshness, "Why won't you even try?" She asked.

Sasuke pointed to Naruto, "Look at him Sakura, look at how determined he is. He was always like that even back in the academy. All he wanted was to be accepted, and now he is. I can't be like that because everyone did accept me, yet I pushed them away for revenge and in the process I lost my brother. Naruto lost his parents his teacher and his friend, yet he never once wanted revenge. He pushed that aside because he knew hate would lead to more hate and because he refused to see the world that way he became what he is now. I let myself hate everything, first I hated my brother then I hated the Leaf, and finally I was going to put all that hate on myself." He turned to face her, "How after all I've done could I possibly be like Naruto?"

Sakura came up and kissed him, then pulling away she said, "You can't start by going to help him he is your best friend."

Sasuke hugged her and said, "Thank you Sakura." When he pulled away Sakura collapsed in a heap.

"What the hell do you think your doing Sasuke?!" Kiba lunged at him but Sasuke easily avoided him.

"Calm down I simply put her in a genjutsu. She will be awake before long." The. Turning to Shikamaru who was also wondering what Sasuke was up to he said, "Please take her somewhere safe."

Shikamaru sighed, "it's a drag but for now I'll trust you, but I'll be watching you." He picked up Sakura and said, "Try not to get in Naruto's way." With that he walked aw ya heading for the medical unit.

Sasuke smiled a little Naruto obviously had everyone's complete trust now. "He is not that dumb kid anymore" he mused. He then headed off to join his friend.

X-x

"I guess that you want to endur more pain then?" Obito stared at Naruto as he said the words. He wondered what could possibly make this boy so convected, what could drive him so much that even after watching his friends doe he would still fight.

"I thought I told you to shut up, I'm going to end this right now, and I'll destroy the cycle of hate, and become hokage!" Naruto said it with the same burning passion that he always did, but this time it was so much more then that. Now he had to protect the one he loved and his soon to be family.

"You seem to have forgot that I'm here as well." Sasuke appeared beside him and he had a smile on his face. "Today we fight as a team again Naruto."

Naruto grinned and went into Kyuubi mode, "you ready Kurama?"

**"Heh that's the Naruto I know." **He replied.

Then turning to Sasuke Naruto said, "Try to keep up."

Sauke laughed and said, "I was about to say the same thing." He then activated his his Susanoo and together they attacked.

Obito doged Sasuke's initial sword strike but felt Naruto's Rasangan connect with his gut and he was blasted across the battle ground slamming into overturned rocks and earth all the way. He grunted but the black orbs around him began to heal him. Soon he was back on his feet and ready for round 2.

"You can't beat me the tailed beast chakra inside me make me on par with th sage of the six paths, I'll just keep healing as long as they are within me."

**"He is right Naruto we have to extract the tailed beast chakra from him or he will just keep coming back."**

"How do we do that?"

**"We have to connect our chakra to his like when you and I fought and tug of war with him."**

The plan sounded so simple but it was not, Obito countered with his orbs turning into weapons and he broke through Sasuke's Susanoo and priced Naruto's arm. Sasuke was sent flying and Naruto felt his knees buckle com the impact. "Dam he got us." Naruto pulled the weapon out with some difficulty then upper cut Obito with extreme force. Obito was shocked Naruto could counter with a wound like that but he got back to his feet once more as the orbs healed him.

"Naruto." Sasuke said getting up. "I hope you have some kind of plan.

Actually he did, "Sasuke combine your chidori with my rasangan we are gonna blast the tailed beast chakra right out of him!"

Sauske did not know how that would work but he nodded and got ready. "Chidori!"

Naruto got back to his feet as well then focusing his chakra he added save Jutsu to his rasangan. Then he and Sasuke combined the two and rushed at Obito.

_"That attack may actually do some damage I better put up some defense." _Obito thought. He then added a stdon't wall to block the attack and summed his most powerful sword to attack with once they broke through.

"Sasuke do your super eye thing you had earlier and combine it with my full Kyuubi mode!" Sasuke understood and together they fm knee once again and Nauto said "Everyone get ready!" For some reason everyone except Hinata and Sakura all understood and they were caught up in Naruto's tails. Each one had a giant rasangan. "Now break that wall!" Naruto shouted. They all took hold of the rasangans and flew forward the wall crumbled like dust.

"But how?" Obito asked though he did not have time to think about it cause Naruto and Sasuke came charging in,

"Wind and Lightming Rasangan!" They shouted. The attack connected with the seal Obito had used to seal the Ten-tails inside him. With the sage chakra added to the attack not only was the tailed beast chakra extracted it was blown from Obitos chakra system completely it flew throught the air master less and free and vanished into the wind. The tailed beasts would be reborn but not for a while since their chakra was spread thin. With a look of shock Obito felt his organs explode lightning and wind coursed through his body destroying his chakra flow and all his cells. Finally he was thrown like a rag doll several yards and crashed into a boulde breaking his back. He looked up at the sky and said,

"I lost."

X-x

Naruto stood beside the broken body that was Obito Uchia. The man had a slight smile on his face and he said, "I see so my thoughts about you were right."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"I wanted to see if you truely could hold on to your convection, as I said before I used to be a lot like you. I wanted to be the best hokage but my hate lead me astray. But even after I killed your friends and comrade you refused to give in. Now I wonder if I had not let my hate get the best of me if I too could have held such ideals." Naruto said nothing so Obito continued. "It seems what I lacked was the strength to not hate, I was weak and foolish, Rin would never forgive me if she saw what ive become."

"You loved her didint you?"

"If my words count for anything Naruto do let anything happen to that girl, I can see how much she means to you, I know your strong but loseing the person you love in that way will change you. Maybe you won't turn out like I did but it will leave an emptiness in your heart you will fall into darkness. What type of darkness I cannot say but it will be a darkness you can't get out of."

"I would never let anything happen t Hinata! I would die first!"

Obito smiled,"Good then as my final act let me give you something." He waved his hands together and said, "Rinne Tensei" But at that mment black Zetsu emerged and too controll of his body, "What are you doing?" Obito asked.

Heh it seems you lack the conviction to see anything through so I'm just going to help you complete your task." He replied. His targets for the jutsu had originally been everyone he had killed but he watched in horror as it was directed Madara who had got off his rock after seeing Obito's defeat. There was a flash of light and there stood a fully revived Madara, then he said

"Now that that taken care of I think it's time I got the tailed beast chakra back." He waved he hands together and suddenly the lose chakra in the air began to flow into him. There was another flash of light this time it was enough to nearly blind Naruto. When everything settled Madara was still in the same place but this time he looked exactly like Obito did when he had the beasts chakra. "Black Zetsu you can kill him now."

"You planned this all along didint you?" Obito said.

Madara shrugged, I don't need explain anything to a dead man." With that Zetsu pierced the only working organ he had left, his heart.

As he faded int darkness, Obito reflected on his life and his choices, _"Kakashi, Rin, Naruto, please forgive me if I could turn back time I would never allow this to happen. Good bye my friends." _He drew his last breath and was still.

"Now where were we?" Madara asked. Then he attacked.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: The End of Everything**

Naruto was not fast enough, Madara came flying in and and slammed the side of his staff across Naruto's stomic. Naruto fell to his knees, the wind had been knocked out of him. Madara raised his staff intending to strike him down but Sasuke and his Susanoo had a different idea. The purple arrow managed to to pierce Madara in the in his raised arm and then drag him away frm Naruto.

"Naruto! Keep your guard up!" Sasuke yelled landing beside him.

Naruto got to his feet then addressed Kurama. "Crap are we gonna have to extract the chakra from him again?"

**"Either that or directly damage his vital organs or chakra flow, meaning you would have to aim t kill."**

Naruto did not like the idea but considering that Madara knew what they would try if the were to extract his chakra there did not seem to be any other choice. Plus he was already dead to be honest.

"Sasuke don't hold back, do anything in your power to take him down, for good."

Sasuke was bewildered that Naruto was referring to actually killing him but he understood why, "Fine lets do this."

Naruto jumped in the air and called on his shadow clones, "Rasangshuriken Mega Barrage!" Madara had a difficult time avoiding the blasts that ensued and was even knocked of balence, that gave Sasuke an opening. He thrust forward with his Susanoo intending to stab Madara in any vital spot, but was caught off guard when he appeared behind him.

"Predictable." He said. Then with his sword he broke through Sasuke's Susanoo and hit him like a baseball across the horizon. Sasuke slammed into the ground he knew he was done both his legs were broke as well as all his ribs. _"Dam I lose out to Naruto again." _He thought and everything went black.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled he ran to his friend but Madara blocked his path.

"Where do you think your going?" Naruto felt his sword connect with his ribs and he was thrown back several feet.

"Ahhh!" Naruto felt pain coursing through his body his arm was broke that much he was sure of, he did not know about the rest of the damage.

"Once I get rid of you this world will fall into a dream. There will be no more hate, no losers, everything will be perfect. I'll even make your girlfriend seem like you never died."

_"No please not Hinata, dont make her forget me." _He wanted to say but the impact crushed his voice box.

"Good bye Naruto Uzamaki." He raised his staff but was suddenly blown away as a fimiler midnight haired girl appeared.

"Oh? I suppose you want to die with your beloved?"

Hinata faced him unafraid, "if I were to live a false life with a false Naruto-kun, then yes Id rather die with him!"

Madara shrugged, "So be it!" Hinata prepared herself but she felt someone grab her shoulder and throw her back. There was a deafening piercing noise and at the end of Madara's staff was... "Naruto-kun..."

Naruto pulled the staff from his body and with the last ounce of strength he staped Marada through his head. "Don't you dare lay a hand on Hinata!" Madara fell back the life left him instently. "Naruto grinned and then collapsed as well blood poured from his chest.

X-x

Hinata ran up to Naruto and lifted his head. She started to apply all her chakra into sealing the wound but Naruto stopped her,

"Hinata I'm sorry."

Hinata shook her head " Don't say that Naruto-kun, your gonna be all right. We are going to leave here together and be a family and your gonna be hokage remember?" But even as she said it she saw the life slowly seeing from Naruto's kind blue eyes. "Why Naruto-kun? Why did you give your life for me? You could have had a future you could have found someone else and been the best hokage you-

But he cut her off by gently kissing her, "It would have been pointless if I could not spend each and every day with you. There is no other girl for me Hinata, I said it before your the one I love."

Hinata had tears in her eyes at this point, "Naruto you can't die!" I love you!" She held him close to her heart and he stroked her hair.

"Take care of our child for me, and remember, Hinata I will always love you, my only regret is that it took me so long to see it." He then addressed Kurama, "Sorry about that looks like I caused you trouble again."

**"Kid what were you thinking? **Naruto was surprised to see tears flowing from his eyes as well. **"Ill just be reborn but you just gave up everything." **

Naruto shook his head, "If I had not I would have fell into darkness like Obito said. I realize now I can't live without Hinata, she still has something to live for. If our kid is anything like me, she will be fine, she is strong."

**"Naruto you are an idiot, I'm sorry I could not protect you."**

Naruto smiled then looking at Hinata his last thoughts were. _"I love you Hinata."_ Then he died in her arms.

X-x

_"No this can't be happening. Not after I finally got you, not when our life's were going to be happy you can't be dead, you can't." _Hinata thought "Naruto you can't leave me, please Naruto come back, NARUTO!" Everyone gathered around they all had tears in their eyes Sasuke was useing Sakura for support and he said;

"Dam you Naruto."

Sakura hugged Sasuke bawling her eyes out, "Why Naruto? Why?" She cried.

Ino and Tenten were on their knees hugging Hinata but their comfort did nothing as they were crying as well.

"That stupid drag." Shikamaru said clinching his fists.

"Man now I really want to beat him up." Said Kiba.

Shino and Sai looked away they shed no tears but took the loss the same as everyone else, not well. Finally Kakashi said,

"Kiba, Shino, please take care of Hinata I'll carry Naruto. They attempted to get Hinata let go of him but were unsuccessful.

"No don't take him from me! Please let me stay with him!" Hinata cried trying desperately to hold on to Naruto's lifeless body.

They finally managed to pull him away from her and her cries could be heard by the entire allied Shinobi force.

"Hinata, he deserves a proper buriel." Said Sakura.

"He didint deserve to die at all!" She cried. Ino and Tenten pulled the poor girl to her feet,

"We will take her home." Ino said. Everyone left after that still unwilling to belong be that Naruto, the savior of not only the Leaf but the entire world, was gone.

Little did they know that Black Zetsu had watched the whole event. "Well you seems this plan failed but that Hyuga girl may be the key to my mothers return." He laughed and faded into the ground.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: The Light inThe Darkness**

Hinata decided to not go to the funeral she could bare watching both her brother and the only man she love be buried at the same time. Instead she locked herself in her room and cried, wishing it was all a dream. Sakura Ino and Tenten all tried to get her to come out but it was no use. She was drowning in her grive. They tried asking the boys if they could do something but they had even worse luck when she threw a gas bomb out the door. Even Sasuke tried to cheer her up but all he got was a slap to the face and the door slammed on him. Even her father tried to console her but nothing anybody said would work. A few days after the funeral she finally left her room but all she did was go to Naruto's grave and talk to it as if he were still there. She would stay there from morning to night, and when winter came she would bring a long blanket and dress in a heavy coat and do the same. Everyone soon noticed she was becoming thiner her face lost its color and she had trouble walking.

"She is going to be delivering soon." Sakura told Tsunade.

Tsunade turned to face Hiashi Hyuga who had requested to see the hokage earlier that morning, "Has she been eating?"

"She has not attended dinner in sometime now I thought it was due to the loss of Naruto and Neji."

Tsunade was so angry she punched the clan head. "You fool of a father, you have all seeing eyes and you did not know your own daughter was pregnant?"

Hiashi was shocked from both the punch and what he had just heard, "Hinata...is pregnant?" He asked in shock.

"That's what I just said you idiot, now your going to drag her home and your going to make her eat something I don't care if you have to force it down her throat! Dismissed!"

Hiashi got up bowed and left. As he walked back to Hyuga complex he cursed himself, _"I was so blinded by own ambitions for the clan I've neglected my own daughter! Curse me for a fool what have I done?"_ Once back to the Hyuga complex he ordered two of his men to bring Hinata home by any means. Luckily they did not have to use force as they explained with great care it was orders and Hinata hated to cause people trouble. She went inside and took off her coat and headed for her room, but her father stopped her.

"What do you want?" Hinata asked. "Come to say I'm not fit to be clan head again? Come to remind me of how I am a failure as Hyuga?" Well i don't need it!" She tried pushing past him but he held her in place.

"You will join me and your sister for dinner and you are not allowed to leave the complex without a guard or without haveing ate something." He said sternly.

"Like you care about me, I'm not afraid of you anymore! Just leave me alone." She tried pushing past him again but was surprised when he pulled her into a hug.

"Hinata I'm am so sorry for the pain I've caused you please if I have any place left in your heart give me one more chance."

Hinata tried to push him away, "Since when have you cared? You put that terrible seal on Neji, You disowned me because I could not be a fit clan head, you even said those horrible things about Naruto-kun! You never cared so just let me die!"

Hiashi can't could not deny any of that but he held his daughter tighter and said with tears, "Hinata I was a foolish father I let myself be blinded to what really mattered seeing you like this has made me realize what I have missed, please Hinata if not for my sake do it for your sons!"

Hinata gasped, "how did you know?"

"I have Byakugan too and with how many months it's been I could tell the gender." Hinata cried when he said that, would be look like Naruto? Hinata could not bare the thought of being constantly reminded of her lovers face and blond hair day after day.

"Please father, I can't live without Naruto-Kun, just leave me alone."

Hiashi looked his daughter in the eyes, "Is that what Naruto would want?"

Hinata shook her head. "No it's what I want."

Hiashi sighed, "Hinata please just wait till the baby comes then I'll leave you alone and I'll make sure no one disturbs you." Hinata noded and slowly walked to living room and sat down to eat. It was still difficult to get her the eat anything g so Henbi had to spoon feed her. With each spoonful a tear flowed down her cheek, her sister had always been so strong now she looked like someone she did not know.

"Hinata-chan." She said.

After a few weeks of this Hinata could never longer go out to Naruto's grave, she was stuck in bed with cramping pains and fatigue.

Hiashi ran as fast he could to the hokage's office and did not bother to wait his turn. He burst through her office and said, "Hokage-asana! It's happening!"

Tsunade drooped what she was doing and barked at her current clients to get out. "Sakura! Forget what your doing and can't me with th me the the Hyuga complex and contact The Ino and Tenten!" Sakura slowly got to her feet, she had not been feeling herself lately but she shook it off and headed to find Ino and Tenten. _"What is up with her?" _Tsunade thought. No time for that she grabbed her coat and ran top speed to the Hyuga complex. When she got there she found Hinata in massive amounts of pain and she kept saying "Naruto-kun help me please!" Tsunade felt a tear in her eye but rubbed it away, "Hashi, bring me some hot water and a cloth as fast as you can!" The Hyuga head noded and came back a few minutes later. Then taking it from him Tsunade slammed the door on him. After a few minutes Ino and Tenten showed up but Sakura was not there. "Where is Sakura?"

Ino clinched her fists, "To put it bluntly Hinata is not th only one who had a fun night."

Tsunade swore out loud. "Dam that Sasuke I'm going to pound his face in when he gets back." She motioned to Ino and Tenten to help her, Ino held Hinatas hand while Tenten applied the hot cloth to her head. This went on for several hours and the whole time me Hinata kept saying "Naruto-kun." It was painful for everyone watching her go through so much pain without the one she loved. Finally they heard a baby cry.

"He is beautiful Hinata." Tsunade said. She tried showing him to her but she could not bare to look at him for fear she would see Naruto.

So Ino held him so that she would not have to look at him and asked, "What's his name?"

Hinata thought for a moment and said, "Boruto..."

X-x

Several years passed and Hinata was back in her depression, she had let Sakura and Sasuke take care of Bolt (as that was his nickname) and had resumed shutting herself in her room or visiting Naruto's grave alone. Hiashi had a guard watch her at all times to make sure she did try to hurt herself and Henbi had countinued to feed her her meals. However that did not stop her from failing to get any sleep and the sadness in heart deapened with each passing day.

"Sasuke-kun we have to do something, she will just fade away at the rate she is going." Sakura said one day

Sasuke looked up from his research, he had been cleared of all charges and was now the head of the ANBU. He and Sakura were of course married now but he often left the village for long periods of time for unkown reasons. Even Tsunade did not know what he was up to but decided to put her faith in Naruto. "Sakura the only thing I can do for her is stay away from her, I failed to protect Naruto that day, she has every right to hate me."

Sakura went over and wrapped her arms around her husband, "if that were true she never would have let us- she was cut short when she heard their daughter Sarada yell from her room, "Mom! Bolts at it again! Look out the window!"

Sakura dred to see what the boy did this time he was so much like Naruto it was scary, "Oh Kami..." She said face palming herself. The Hokage stone faces were covered in paint and they all had vulger messages on them.

"Should I get him this time?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura nodded, "He does not listen to me maybe since you knew Naruto the best he might listen to you."

Sasuke sighed and closed his book, "I'll be back in a few." He lept away keeping his Sharigan open to catch the little trouble maker as he was very good at escaping the scene of the crime. He stopped when he saw Kakashi was holding the struggling boy under one arm and reading his perverted book with another.

"I think you lost this." He said, holding Bolt by the collar out to Sasuke.

"So I'm some sort of object now? Let me go you perverted creep!" Bolt yelled squirming.

"Thanks Kakashie-sensei I'm sure Sakura will have a decent amount of chores for him to do later." Taking Bolt under his arm.

"Don't worry about his mess I got it covered."

"Thanks." Kakshie left after that. Then taking Bolt to a private area he put him down and looked him in the eye his Sharingan piercing the very essence of his being. "What do you think your trying to accomplish with the stunts you pull?"

Bolt crossed his arms and looked away. "I don't have to explain myself to you, your not my dad."

Sasuke was not one to get angry very easy of late but that was theist straw. He smacked Bolt upside the head. "No I'm not but me and Sakura are taking care of you and you have an obligation to let us know what's going on."

"You and that pink haired bitch can shove it for all I care!"

Sasuke punched him full in the face, he did not regret it cause Bolt was like Naruto so he could take a hit. "You will not speak that way of Sakura in front of me or her, do I make myself clear?" Bolt just grunted. "Come on we are going home and you are to be extra sweet to Sakura and Sarada got it?" Bolt grunted again. "GOT IT?" This time he stared at Bolt full on in the eyes with his Sharingan. Bolt shivered a little and noded. When they got home Sakura was about to say welcome back but saw the bruise on Bolts face.

"Sasuke-kun! You did not have to be so rough with him!" She said grabbing the first aid kit and brushing Boruto off.

Sasuke took the hit this time if he repeated what Bolt had said it would hurt Sakura emotionally as she had come to care for Bolt like her own son. Sasuke never admitted it but he too cared about Bolt if for no other reason then him being his best friends son.

"Sarada! Come here please!" He shouted.

Sarada came down the hall, "what Ya want dad?"

"Take Bolt and make sure he cleans up the back yard then when he done watch him do his homework and he is not allowed to leave the house."

Sarada had a questionable grin on her face, "Hehe sure thing Dad."

Sakura gave Bolt a hug and sent the two out of the room. Then turning to Sasuke she said, "Was it that bad?"

Sasuke groaned as he sat down again. "What are we gonna do with that kid Sakura? No matter what we do what he needs is his parents not us. He may not have the Nine-Tails inside him but he does not want comfort from us."

"That's it! Sasuke your a genius!"

"Huh? What I say?"

In order to help both Hinata and Bolt we need to get hose two to understand each other!"

Sasuke shook his head. "Hinata only comes by like once a week and when she does she refuses to look at Bolt all she does is sit there wihile he tries to get her to talk to him."

Sakura punched him,"Shut up and listen to my plan."

X-x

Hinata was sitting in her room by herself staring blankly into space when she heard at knock at the door. Normally one of the servants would get it but they were all on vacation and her family had taking a business trip to meet with the clan head of another village so she was alone. She slowly got to her feet and answered the door, "Y-yes?" She was surprised to find Ino Tenten and Sakura at the door.

"Hey Hinata! Listen me and the girls just got assigned an important mission and the boys are all offworking! I left Sarada with Lady Tsunade but knew Bolt would not like that so need Ya to watch him for a few days, bye!"

Before she could protest they sped away and there stood her son Boruto his hands dug in his pockets and his face scowling. Hinata nearly collapsed at the likeness Bolt had with Naruto, he had the same blue eyes, his blond hair was a spiky and he looked like a trouble maker. "U-umm come in." She said.

Bolt scoffed but he took her up with on her offer and went in, took his shoes off and flopped on the coach.

"U-umm we don't use the coach so roughly-

"Shut up I'll do what i want it's not like you care." There was a loud smack and a red mark was left on Bolts cheek.

Hinata and Bolt were shocked at her action, "Bolt I'm sorry!" But the damage was done Bolt ran out the door with tears in his eyes and Hinata fallowed after him. She lost track of him when they got to the shopping center which was not surprising as it was the busy part of the day. She looked for him everywhere and then it suddenly hit her. _"Why that place?" _She thought. But regardless she brought herself to run to Naruto's old apartment. Sure enough when she looked inside there sat Bolt and he was looking exactly like his father, his knees brought to his face and tears streaming like a river. Hinata did not ask how he got in, the building had been abandoned for sometime now but the Hokage had ordered it not to be taken down in remberence of Naruto. Hinata sighed and pushed the door open, "Bolt?" She asked.

Bolt did not even look up, "Go away. You don't care about me. You never even looked at me."

Hinata had tears in her eyes and she slowly came up and hugged her son. "That's not true Bolt, I love you."

"Then why did you leave me with Sakura-chan and Sasuke-Sensei?"

Hinata stroked his blond hair, it felt exact like Naruto's, "I'm sorry Bolt when I lost your father, I did not want to see the light, I was selfish and wanted to drown in my misery, please just bare with me till Sasuke or Sakura get back."

Bolt wiped his eyes and said, "Fine."

Hinata smiled a little bit, it hurt she had not smiled in a long time. "Want to go get some ramen? My treat." Bolt simply noded. "Good, come on then." She offered him a hand and he took it but let go when he was up. They went to Ichiraku's and got two servings of pork ramen, though apparently Bolt had not inherited his fathers enormous appetite. However he was instently hooked on ramen and damanded that it was served every meal.

A few feet away behind some bushes the same group that had once watched Hinata's and Naruto's love blossom watched as things slowly started to change for two broken souls.

Kiba grinned, "Naruto certainly knew how to make Hinata's life difficult." he said. Everyone agreed, the. Shikamaru said,

"Keep me posted Tamari and I have to go visit Gaara Tamari wanted to tell him and Kongero something and said I needed to come. It's a drag but she would kill me if I did not."

"Shikamaru, week to the lady? I never thought I'd see the day!" Ino laughed.

Your one to talk you butter up to Sai all the time!" Tenten said. Ino blushed.

Shino simply walked away and with his new look you could clearly see the smile on his face.

Sakura looked one last time at Hinata and Bolt, _"Naruto are you watching?"_

X-x

As the days went on Hinata and Bolt drew closer together, she often allowed him to spend his allowance her father gave him on ramen or comic books but made sure to give him a prober meal in the evening and made him do his homework. It was then she decided, "Bolt would you like to go on a trip with me?" Of course he wanted to but Bolt being a tough guy just shrugged like he did not care either way. "Good pack your bag we will leave tomorrow."

The fallowing morning they had their bags packed and Hinata let her dad know she and Bolt were going to the mountain hot springs. Hiashi was not to sure about letting her go alone but he agreed and lent her some money. After a few hours of traveling they made it to the village hidden in the Stone. The first few days they spent seeing the sites and browsing the shops. Hinata bought Bolt a pair of goggles like Naruto had had and Bolt further looked like his father when he put them on.

"All right! Everyone is gonna be jealous of theses! Thanks Mom!" He stopped himsf when he said it and Hinata blushed and tapped her fingers just like she used to. "So Ya anyways thanks their really cool." He ran ahead and Hinata smiled trying to keep up. Finally on their last day there they went to the hot springs, Hinata asked for a private mixed bath because she wanted to be with her son. Bolt wanted the same. They let their towels cover them up and they sat back to back neither saying a word.

"Bolt?" Hinata asked.

"Ya?"

"Did Ya have fun even though you were with me?"

"It was ok."

"Bolt?"

"Ya?"

"Would you like to stay with me? I know I've been a bad mother, and a selfish one at that but these days I've spent with you... I've never been this happy since your dad died, would you give me a chance to love you proberly?" She was shocked when he hugged her from behind,

"Please mom don't send me away again, I love you, Sakura and Sasuke-sensei are nice but I need you!"

Hinata turned around and hugged her son back, "Don't worry Bolt I'll never leave your side I love you as well!" They cried in each other's arms for a good long while then went back to the hotel. As Hinata was laying down to sleep she felt Bolt shake her.

"Mom can I sleep with you?" Hinata smiled and moved over so Bolt could fit under the blankets. "Mom can you tell me about dad?"

Hinata stiffened but she toughened up, " your dad was the most wonderful man I ever met, he never gave up and he was ways spouting about how he would become Hokage. As she told him this she felt tears running down her face and saw Bolt had tears as well. "What you crying for?" Hinata laughed "I'm telling the story."

"You don't have to go it alone anymore mom, I'll protect you!"

Hinata hugged him and held or him close to her heart like she had his father and countued her story; as she did she thought, _"Thank you Naruto for giving me a reason to live! Thank you for loveing me!"_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: New Life**

Sakura helped Hinata pack all of Bolts clothes while Bolt and Sarada did their homework. Once they had everything neatly packed Sakura gave Bolt one final hug and said, "Be good for your mom ok Bolt?"

Bolt being a tough guy again just said, "Ya Ya now will you please you please get off me?" Sakura gave him a gold smack.

_"Sometimes I wish this kid was a little less like Naruto." _Sakura thought,

"Ow! What you that for Sakura-chan?"

"If you talk like that around Hinata I'll make the next one ten times harder. Understand?" Bolt nodded.

Sasuke kneeled beside Bolt and tapped his forehead. "Your always welcome here."

"Ahhh don't get all mushy with me now Sasuke-sensei!"

Sasuke laughed, "Take care kid." Hinata looked away when Sasuke approached her, "Hinata I have no right to say anything especially to you but please know I am sorry for being unable to save him and I am deeply sorry for the pain I caused you and him." Hinata just shuffled away and stood next to Bolt as if he were Naruto. Sasuke let his head drop and went to wait on the porch.

Sakura watched as he left and she held back a tear, then turning to Hinata she went over and hugged her, "Take care of yourself Hinata, come by anytime."

Hinata hugged her back and said, "Thank you Sakura-chan for everything." With that she took Bolts hand and headed back to the Hyuga complex. Sakura went and joined her husbend on the porch.

"It's going to be oddly quite without him around." Sauske said.

"Ya it felt like team 7 was back together with him around."

"Sakura..." Sasuke turned to face her and held her in his arms, "you can stop being strong now you have not cried once that day. You don't even talk about it. Please Sakura just once let it out."

Sakura poked at Sasuke with a questionable look but felt the tears began to fall. "What are you talking about Sasuke-kun? I'm over-

"Sakura...just stop."

Finally after 10years of holding it back Sakura let everything pour out, "Sasuk-kun, I said those horrible things to him, I rejected him and used him to vent my anger on. Now I can never take it back. Hinata should hate me not you!" Sakura cried into her husbends cloak. "I tried to make amends with Bolt and felt that I did connected with him in Naruto's place and for a time it worked, now I've lost him as well, what's wrong with me Sasuke? Why do I always push Naruto away even after he is dead? Why Sasuke?"

Sasuke held her close and said, "Naruto would not want you to be sad about that, he loved you Sakura, maybe not the way he loved Hinata but he loved you more then anyone that's why he would hav laid down his life for you."

Sakura just cried even harder and she buried herself in Sasuke's arms long into the night.

X-x

Once back at the Hyuga complex Hinata realized that there was not an available room for Bolt so she took his clothes and folded them neatly and stashed them in the corner of her room. Then she had some servants grab the nicest mat they could find and lay it out next to her bed. _"I guess untill we can get a house of our own we will just have to share my room." _She thought. She had gave up on being a ninja much to Tsunades dismay but it was not like there was much to do in that line of work these days anyway, the world was at peace after all. So untill Bolt moved in she had just been living off her family's wealth now she needed to get a job. Her father had offered to let them stay and even offered to recognize Bolt as a Hyuga dispite him not haveing byakugan, though he did show potential in chakra control and taijutsu. But Hinata had refused saying that Bolt was his fathers son and should remain so and said that they needed a place of their own to start a new life. However that did not stop Hashi from making Bolt spare with Henbi to increase his skills. Although Henbi beat him up very time he always fought till finally Hinata had to shield him from further harm. But she knew it was not going to be easy finding a house so she decided to at least stay in the complex till Bolt graduated from Ninja academy. She was at first embarrassed with her son in the same room as her cause it felt almost the same as when Naruto was with her but soon she became comfortable enough to leave her own bed and snuggle with her son on his mat. Bolt may have acted tough saying she was babying him but he enjoyed being close to her.

"I love you Bolt"she would say every night and hold him close. Bolt would not reply but he would try to move closer to her on the mat. They would spend most days trying to make up for lost time untill one day Bolt came home covered in bruises. "Bolt-kun! What happened?" Hinata cried applying healing Jutsu to her son.

"Some jerks were picking on Sarada so I told them knock it off. I could have took them if it was one at a time."

Hinata had a sudden flash back of when Naruto had done the same thing. "Bolt-Kun next time go get Shino, you worry me when you do stuff like that." Rembering an unconcess Naruto as she was roughly pulled away.

"Ahhh I can take them."

Hinata smiled at her sons resolve but held fast to her own so she pulled him into a hug and said, "Please Bolt-kun, I could not bare it if something happened to you."

Bolt was cornered he still wanted to beat the crap out those guys but he did not want to worry his mom so he told a little white lie, "ok mom."

Getting up Hinata said, "Good, now go do your training session with Henbi-chan and father and I'll have a nice snack for you when your done."

Bolt groaned but headed off too the training room.

X-x

"Aggg!" Bolt was throw across the room yet again, what did he expect? Henbi had supposedly beat his mom so what could he do?

"Awwww come on Bolt this is no fun if I win every time." Henbi laughed.

"Bolt your not allowed to leave this room untill you have landed an obvious hit on Henbi, and Henbi if you let him hit you im going to trible the sessions for a week!" Hashi said getting impatient. He had given up on Hinata because of her soft demeanor and he regretted it, but Bolt was very much like Naruto. In truth, Hashi never liked the boy but he could not deny his feats and what he had done for Hinata so he was going to make it up with his son. It might seem harsh but he would thank him for it later. He deduced since Bolt did not have the Byakugan but was still able to use chakra control in a similar way to the Hyuga he could at least teach him how to make his chakra form in his palms and fingertips. This was not exactly dangerous, however without the Byakugan he could not attack the opponents chakra points directly or use any of the advanced Hyuga techniques, but with his chakra flowing visably in his palms it could possibly amplifie any jutsu the boy might learn.

"Really? Awwww. Bolt you better do something cause I got better things to do." Henbi comeplaind.

Bolt got back to his feet the. Applied his chakra to his palms like Hashi had taught him and attacked yet again but was knocked back down.

Henbi sighed. "Hinata-chan might kill me but I guess if I knock you out I can leave."

Bolt rose once again. "No. This time I'm gonna knock you out!" Wind gathered around his hand and his chakra that was flowing in his hand made it seem like there was a storm in the room. At that moment Hinata came in hoping to collect Bolt what she saw filled her with mixed feelings.

"That's Naruto-kuns Rasangan!" But she noticed that it was different as free chakra enclosed around it.

Bolt lunged at Henbi, "Gintal Fist Rasangan!"

Henbi barely had time to react, "8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!"

Bolt collided with her attempted shield and for several minutes they clashed norther budging the wind blew like a hurricane Hashi was thrown from his seat and Hinata lost her balance. Finally both parties were thrown against opposit walls and had to catch their breath.

Hinata got up and ran to Bolt, "Bolt-kun! Are you ok?" She said checking his vitals.

"Ow, a little dazed but I feel great! I made Aunt Henbi fly!" He said grinning.

Henata's worry suddenly turned to anger, "who taught you that Jutsu?!"

"Uhh Kakashie-Sensei why?" Bolt asked wondering why his mom was not happy. He had just made a draw with the next Hyuga head after all

"Hinata it's fine, I asked Kakashie to teach him." Hashi said getting up.

"Why would you have him teach Bolt-kun such a dangerous jutsu?" Hinata asked bewildered.

Hashi looked confused, "Bolt has untapped potential with both Hyuga chakra and Uzamaki chakra, in time he might be a good clan head to replace Henbi."

"I told you Bolt-kun is Naruto-kun's son how can he be clan head with the last name Uzamaki?"

"I dont believe I ever read any law that says a name matters, as long as he is of Hyuga bloodline and is a decendent of the Main family."

"But he does not need to learn any dangerous jutsu! The world is at peace!"

"Maybe the villages but there are still rouge ninja out there, including black Zetsu, would you rather him not prepared?"

Hinata did not have an answer for that so she grabbed Bolt and dragged him back to their room. Hashi sighed and called some servent to fix the training room as some of the wall lining was severely damaged.

"Wait wait, you rigged this session didint you dad?" Henbi said rubing her head. Hashi shrugged.

X-x

Hinata countinued to drag the confused Bolt back to the room once there she made them both lay don and Hinata brought Bolt into a massive bear hug.

"Ow mom can't breath!" Bolt coughed.

Hinata loosened her grip but just slightly, "Bolt-Kun, do you want to be the clan head?"

Bolt looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well I don't have any other plans, so why not? He grinned.

"But it's a bunch of paper work and meetings, it really boring."

"And being Hokage is any different? I've seen granny's desk.

Henata could not argue with that, still..."But it's can also be dangerous being on the road for meeting's and so forth."

"Aww mom stop worrying so much, you just saw me tie with Henbi right?"

"Bolt-kun please!" She said. I can't lose you as well!"

Bolt turned to face her, "mom dont worry I'll never die when I have to protect you! I never go back in n my word because that's my Ninja Way!"

Hinata swore she heard Naruto's voice when he said that last part and could not help but shed a tear. Sniffing she said, "ok Bolt-kun but please don't strain yourself, if father pushes you to far just get me. But most of all if you can avoid a fight please do it."

Bolt grinned even more, "Sure thing Mom! Also if I become clan head I can do something about that stupid seal."

"Don't let father hear that or he will put one on you." Hinata teased.

"He can try! I'll beat him up as well!" Bolt declared

Hinata wiped her face and said, "why don't we go get some Ichiraku's?"

"Heck Ya!"

"By the way Bolt-kun if you knew how to that, why did you not use it on the bullies?"

"Ah they took a cheep shot and kneed me in the groin before I could. Plus i did not want to accedently hit Sarada."

"Oh? Have you taken a likeing to her Bolt-kun?" Hinata said teasing him again.

Bolt's face turned bright red just like hers did, "what are you saying mom? She is just a friend, and I used to live with her."

"I'm sure you miss that." Hinata joked.

Bolt did not get the punch line so he said, "Ya a little." Then it dawned on him, "Wait mom! Don't tell me your a pervert!"

Hinata laughed and hugged him. As they were walking Hinata held Bolts hand, _"It's strong and comforting just like Narutos."_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:Good Days Dark Return**

"Bolt-kun, come honey time to wake up!" Hinata said gently snuggling his face with her nose.

Bolt woke up after a few times and when he did his face turned cherry red, "Mom! Why do you do that? That's for kids!" He said turning away trying to hide his embarrassment.

Hinata smiled at his his blushing face, _"So there is a little of me in my son." _She put her arms around him and said, "it's because you're my world Bolt-kun." With that she kissed his head and Bolt had to bury his face in his knees to hide the steam coming off him. "Hehe, get dressed and I'll make you. breakfest and and bento." Bolt grumbled something but got up and went to take a shower. Hinata however hummed a little tune and began making Bolt a special breakfest and bento. The reason it was special was today Bolt would graduate from Ninja academy and it also happened to be the day Naruto and her had went on their first official date. She remembered it clearly, the sparkling water by their table, Naruto's confused face on what to order, but most importantly when they had kissed afterwards in the moonlight. She heard the frying pan sizzle when a tear dropped from her eye. She couldn't control herself, she dropped to her knees and began to cry softly. At that moment oly came out of the room and into the kitchen and when he saw his mom so sad be dropped his bag and went to console her,

"Mom what's wrong?" He asked concerned.

Hinata looked up and in her sadness she thought Bolt was Naruto, "Naruto-kun?" She touched his face and looked at him with with glazed eyes. "Naruto-kun is that you?"

Bolt was realy confused and scared, "M-mom come on snap out of it! It's me Bolt! Your scaring me!"

Hinata snapped back to reality, "Oh Bolt-kun are you ready for school?" She asked as if nothing happened.

"Mom what the hell was that?"

Hinata slapped him gently, "please don't talk like that Bolt-kun. It's not porber."

Bolt rubbed his cheek. "Ow ok ok!"

"Good, oh no! I burnt your breakfest! Ohhhh I've never done this before." She said miserably

"It's cool mom I'll grab some ramen."

Hinata sighed and smiled, then she hugged him, "I love you so much Bolt-kun."

Bolts head started boiling like a kettle, "Ack come on mom what's your deal?"

Hinata kissed his forehead, "Don't worry about it honey, now you have to go or you will be late!" She said giving him a slight push.

"Mom, you sure you don't need me to stick around today? Your acting weirder then normal."

"What? don't be silly Bolt-kun your not allowed to skip school and today is graduation so you can't anyway, now here is your lunch! I'll pick Ya up after school and don't spoil your apatite!" She gave him a quick push and shut the door behind him. Then sliding slowly down against the door she collapsed to the floor. _"Oh Kami, why did I think Bolt-kun was Naruto-kun?"_

X-x

When Bolt got to school he could not concentrate, well it's not like he payed attention anyway but this time his thoughts were not about his next prank or how he was going to beat Henbi next, no this time he was really worried about his mom. _"Why did mom call me dads name? I know I supposedly look like him but come on we can't be THAT alike." _

"Sarada, Bolt, and Shikadai team 7!" Sarada grinned, and Shikadai said what a drag. However Bolt countinued looking out the window like he never heard him, and Shino did not like that. "Boruto Uzamaki!"

Bolt left his thoughts at the sound of his full name, "what do Ya want glasses-sensei?" He said annoyed.

"Oh? I guess Ya don't want to know who your teammates are?"

"Neh because all the team needs is me!" He said triumphantly.

"Really? Your dad thought of his teammates as his own siblings, he cared more about his comrade ps then anything else, even to the point of putting his life on the line for them. I would think you would want to try and strife to be like him."

Bolt knew Shino was only trying to help but his moms actions that morning and now hearing this clouded his mind. "Leave my dad out of this." He said darkly.

Shino decided to stop there he did not want a long lecture from Hinata about emotionally hurting her son even if it was all in good intentions. "Anyway Bolt, Sarada and Shikadai are your teammates you will meet your squad leader tommarow. Class dismissed permanently." Bolt left before the words were even out. He went outside and looked around for his mom but saw Kakashi-sensei. "Eh? What do you want perverted creep?"

Kakashie looked up from his book, "I could not help but overhear yours and Shino's conversation as I passed by and I was wondering if Ya had a moment to talk."

"Fine but do it fast I don't want people thinking I hang out with a perv."

Kakashie smiled through his mask, "Good now come with me to the gate there is someone Id like you to meet."

He started walking without even checking to make sure Bolt had heard him.

_"What's with this guy? All he does is ruine my pranks and gets in trouble, now suddenly he has someone I should meet and wants to talk?" _Bolt asked himself. He shrugged but fallowed him anyway just out of curiousity. When they reached the gate Bolt looked around and saw no one was there. "Hey what you trying too pull pervert? There is nothing one here."

"That's because he is not wet the training ground, he does not like villages you see."

"So why did you say the gate?!"

"To get you to come of course." He said it with a sarcastic smile even though the mask hid his face. Th jumped away.

"Hey get back here!" Bolt shouted chasing after him. They ran past the training grounds and onto the highroad for a little while, the Kakashie went of the road into the forest. Not really caring Bolt fallowed cause he had a few things to say with his fist when he caught "that perverted creep." However he forgot that fairly fast when there in the clearing slept a massive red fox. From what Bolt could gather this was was the same fox, the Nine-tails as his mother had told him about.

**"It's about time Kakashie." **Said the beast.

Kakashie scratched his head, "Ya sorry about that, I had to get him to fallow me, distract his mom, and mask your chakra from being sensed."

**"I can mask my own chakra thanks but anyway this is not about you anyway."** He turned his attention to Bolt who was dumbfounded. **"Haha! You have never seen a tailed beast have you boy?"**

Bolt did like being called boy so he shook himself and said, "shut up stupid fox!"

**"Ha! Naruto used to say the same thing! It seems he passed on more then his terrible looks!"**

"Your no fashion salon either fox face!"

The fox lightly pounded him on the head, **"my name is Kurama now shut up because I'm here for a specific reason."**

Bolt rubbed his now sore head, "whatever you want I don't care, you made my dads life hell, and in the end you did nothing to save him! Do have any idea what that did to me? What it did to my mom? WHAT ITS STILL DOING TO HER?!

Kurama sighed, **"it's true I was the reason Naruto suffered for all his life, and yes I failed to protect him, but know this boy." **He said clenching his fists. **"Naruto changed my hateful heart, he was the first human I cared for if I could have taken his place, I would have done it with no regrets!" **He brought his fist slamming down like a hammer, the ground and entire forest shook from the shook.

Bolt looked down, "Fine what do you want?"

Kurama leaned back and said, **"I am going to give you part of my chakra, and I'll mask it so no one can sense it unless they actually see you use it, and Kakashie and I are going to teach you two of Naruto's signature jutsu. Furthermore you will master them today."**

"I don't know if you guys noticed but I'm not a genius like Shikadai, there is now way I can learn two Jutsu before I have t meet with my mom."

**"You never had a teacher like me kid, just wait..."**

x-x

After several hours they finally finished, and Bolt was worn out. **"Heh doubt me now boy?"**

Bolt shook his head, "no but who does that kind of freaking training?! I can't even move now!"

**"Anyway I better go the barrier is fading and Id rather not be coupes use inside some kid again." **He got up to leave but said, **"oh Ya almost forgot..." **He touched Bolts head with his forefinger and transfered about 1/4 of his chakra into him.

Instently Bolt felt refreshed as if he could do ten of those training sessions now. "Hey this is cool! Wait a minute..." Bolt scowled at Kurama, "why didn't you do that before we got started?!"

Kurama thought a moment and shrugged, **"slipped my mind plus it was a lot more fun watching you tire out." **He laughed so hard he uprooted a few trees. Bolt just said stupid fox under his breath. **"Well kid I'll be seeing Ya, consider this my thank you to your dad." **How he did it with his size Bolt did not know but he somehow vanished as fast as light.

Kakashie looked at Bolt and said, "don't you have to be somewhere?" And he vanished as well. Bolt slapped himself and hurried back to the village to find his mom.

Hinata meanwhile was not haveing exactly a good day she was quite shaken up from that morning but it usher herself to go get Bolt. _"This is mine Naruto-kuns and Bolt-kuns day, I won't let anything ruin it!" _She thought. She had taken a nap since Bolt had to stay late to make us his grades or he wild not graduate, but for some reason it came from Kakashie. Hinata sighed she would have to punish Bolt somehow even though she disliked to but otherwise he would not learn. But that could be later today was a happy day. She walked around the shopping district looking for Bolt as they had decided to meet there. "Bolt-kun?" She said loudly but not too loudly as to not draw attention to herself. Then she heard his voice,

"mom! Over here!"

Hinata looked around and there was Bolt and surprisingly this time he ran up and hugged her. "Oh Bolt-kun, did Ya have a good day?"

" he looked up at her and grinned, "Ya I learned two new jutsu want to see?"

Hinata smiled at how strong her boy was becoming, "not now Bolt-kun tonight I'm taking you somewhere special!" First they went to the comic stand and Hinata bought Bolt the newest issues, then holding his hand she brought him to the end of the street where a little cafe stood by a stream. Hinata used her influence to get them the exact table she had sat with her only love all those years ago. Although it was dark the Moonlight made the stream sparkle in its own way, it seemed it was just for them. After that had ordered Hinata said, "This was your fathers and my first real date." She said with a red face.

"Wow that's cool mom I guess dad did know how to be a romantic."

But for some reason when he said that il what she heard was, "What are you talking about Hinata? This is our first date!" Hinata almost fell out of her chair in the place where Bolt had been was Naruto.

"Wh-wha Naruto-kun?" She stammered. She rubes her eyes then she opened them it was just Bolt.

"Eh? Mom you called me dads name again. You ok?"

Hinata shook herself and smiled, "I'm fine dear let's try not to talk about your dad much just for tonight ok?"

Bolt nodded but was even more concerned now since she had called him Naruto twice in the same day. They talked about simple things as they ate and had some dessert afterwards for the occasion. As they were walking back to the Hyuga complex Hinata suddenly stopped.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Bolt asked pulling her hand

"This where I first kissed your father Bolt, he was cluesless and dense to a fault but... Oh Bolt I loved him so much!" She dropped to her knees and sobbed. Bolt tried to comfort her as best he could. Suddenly she heard his voice,

"Oh come on Hinata you mean you don't love me anymore? Gee thanks!" Hinata looked up and Naruto was standing before her as real as ever but then, "Ya Hinata what's gives?" Suddenly another Naruto appeared and they kept muiltiplying saying any number of things,

"Hinata I love you!"

"Your the one I love!"

"I'll never let anyone make you cry again!"

"Hinata!"

"Hinata!"

"Hinata!"

Hinata could not take it anymore, "N-no your not Naruto-kun! Bolt? Bolt honey where are you? Bolt help me! Bolt!"

While all this was going on Bolt was trying to shake his mother out of it, "mom I'm here! Look at me! It's Bolt! I'm sorry about stealing grandpa's robe and writing I'm a hard ass on the back! Mom?" She collapsed on the ground and Bolt let her head rest on his lap. "Mom come on wake up, it's only a few feet till we are home. Come on mom. Someone help! Anybody please help my mom! MOM!"


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: An Offer**

"Why can't I see her?! She is my mom!" Bolt yelled at Hashi while Henbi tried calming the boy down.

Hashi was about to answer when Tsunade came out of Hinata's room, "it's because you remind her of Naruto to much and it's making her think you are him."

"That's impossible I am not my dad!"

Tsunade sighed and reached into her parents diet and brought out a photo and showed it to him. "I noticed that your mom hid his all the pictures she had of your father, and I was wondering why, and it occurred to me that she did not want you to think you were becoming someone else. She wanted you to believe that you were not your father even though each day you become more like him."

Bolt looked at the photo and nearly feel to his knees, in the picture there was a boy of about 17. He had blonde spiky hair, sky blue eyes, and an overconfident smile on his face. In the background was Ichiraku's and if you looked close enough Hinata stood blushing hiding behind the corner watching him. He then noticed that Sakura was with and for some reason he looked like he was trying to get her to date him. Sakura just looked annoyed. "Why...why is my mom only in the background? Why is Sakura with my dad and not her..." He asked darkly. Nobody knew how to answer that, Henbi however held on to his shoulders and said,

"Bolt..."

But Bolt pushed her hands off, "This jack ass is supposed to be my dad?! No way!" He threw the picture down and ran outside. He ran not knowing where he was going and as fate would have it he ran into Sakura who had been shopping,

"Oh Bolt you ok?" She said offering him a hand up.

Bolt looked at her in disgust, "just stay away from me!" He yelled. The other shoppers turned to look at the event.

Sakura was hurt by Bolts words deeply she thought they had a spaceil bond, "Bolt what's wrong?" She asked trying to touch him.

He slapped her hand away, "Don't touch me! It's because of you and my jack ass dad that my mom is suffering! You should just go die like him!" He got up and ran away leaving Sakura there her face shocked and tears flowing from her eyes.

_"Wha? What did I do?" _She thought. She sat in the middle of the street and cried untill Sasuke found her,

"Sakura what happened?"

Sakura looked up at him the tears were all over her face, "Sasuke-kun, Bolt he- but she could not finish the tears were to strong she just hid her face in his cloak. He looked around at all the states and gave them a taste of his angry Sharingan and they all got the idea quick enough. He picked Sakura up gently and asked a shop keeper to bring her bag by later. Once they got home he asked,

"What happened?"

"Oh Sasuke!"she cried wrapping her arms around him, "what was I thinking? I've always pushed Naruto away it's no wonder I've managed to push Bolt away as well! Why could I not love him the way I love him the way I love you? Maybe...at least he might be alive!"

Sasuke let her weep for a moment and said, "Naruto had the love he wanted from you Sakura, he did not admit it but he was happy that you loved me, and when he found how Hinata felt about him, he was overjoyed. He even said untill Hinata came along he knew nothing about love, he was just happy to be with you regardless of what he felt for you. That's the Naruto I remember. Bolt is probably just upset he spent more time with you then his mom. He will get over it he just needs time."

Saskura nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes, "I love you Sasuke-kun." She said kissing him.

X-x

Kibe had heard what happened to Hinata and he had quickly ran to the Hyuga complex to she her, despite knowing her heart belonged to Naruto, Kibe still loved her, but he was happy with his life and hers as long as she was happy so he had put it on the back burner. He had not been able to talk to her much when she was depressed over Narutos death but after seeing her comeback from her despair because of Bolt he had often visited and talked with her and had hung out with Bolt on days she needed for herself. He had no particular love interest he just messed around with a few girls buying them drink or two untill they slapped him and left. He was ok with that because being with those girls helped leave what should not be spoken unspoken. When he got to the Hyuga complex no one was around but a few servents so he snuck into Hinata's room and was sad with what he found. Hinata was crying holding her pillow close and laying on Bolts mat instead of her bed.

When she saw Kiba come in she wiped her eyes quickly, "oh Kiba, maybe you can help me." She said grabbing his hands.

Kiba blushed a little and said, "woah easy Hinata what's wrong? Where is Bolt?"

Hinata's tears came back and she held his hands tighter, "I don't know Tsunade won't let me see him! Please Kiba bring me my Bolt-kun! Please give him back to me!" She cried.

Kiba was confused, "why won't Tsunade let you see Bolt?"

Hinata knew she could not tell Kiba the truth or he would not do what she asked. She hated lying especially to her teammate but she needed her precious Bolt-kun before she freaked out. He was all she had left after all, "U-umm she said that Bolt needed to do a private training session and that no one could interfere, but I have not seen him for a full day and I'm worried."

Kiba sighed in relief so that's all it was, "Come on Hinata that kid is so much like Naruto he is probably breezing through that, he will be back soon."

Hinata got on her knees and looked Kiba in the eyes with a pleading look as well as flowing tears, "Please Kiba, Bolt-kun is all I have left, please I beg you!"

Kiba felt his heart ache a little because he wished Hinata felt that way about him but he shook it off and stood up, "Ok ok, man your persuasive, i hope you know Tsunade is going have me for breakfest for this."

Hinata jumped to her feet and hugged him, "Thank you Kiba! Thank you so much!" She said tears drying from her face.

Kiba resisted the urge to hug her back because he knew with his feelings for her even the slightest contact was overwhelming, "Um Hinata? I can't get Bolt if I'm trapped."

Hinata let go and blushed, "Sorry Kiba, could you go get Bolt-kun now?"

Kiba grinned, "Leave it to me!"

When he left Hinata sat on her bed awaiting the moment when she and her Bolt would be together again. Suddenly she felt and rag put over her mouth and she tried to struggle.

"Oh please stop, I'll be reuniting you with your beloved soon, you should be thanking me!"

Hinata felt the knock out drug take effect she managed to look around at her assailant and thought, _"Black Zetsu?" _ She then lost concessness.

X-x

Kiba searched the village high and low useing his nose to the best of his ability and finally sniffed him out. Bolt was in the grounds of the academy on the same swing Naruto use to sit on day after day. "Hey buddy what's up?" Kiba asked him.

"Oh uncle Kiba! I was just sitting here is all." Bolt replied.

Kibe walked over and sat by the tree, "you look upset, you ok?"

Bolt gripped the robes tighter, "No, stupid Hokage won't let me see my Mom."

Kiba sighed, "well she can be pretty stubborn sometimes, guess that's why she took a likeing to Sakura." Bolt flinched at the name and Kiba noticed, "what's wrong with Sakura? You get in a fight?"

Bolt shook his head, "It's nothing."

Kibe knew he was lying but it was none of his business, if Bolt wanted to tell him he would, "Anyway your mom sent me to get you." He said.

Bolts face lit up, "I can see her now?!"

Kiba grinned, "Ya but Ya got to fallow me so no one sees us."

Bolt noded and the left. The started by just walking through the village so as not to attract attention and out of nowhere Bolt said, "you know something uncle Kiba?"

Kiba looked down at him with a question on his face that said "what?"

Bolt countinued, "just today, I wished you were my dad instead of that asshole."

Kiba stoped him with a very sudden force, "Bolt why would you say that? Your dad love yor mom and you, he saved the world! I could not even protect him or your mom. I don't deserve her or you."

Bolt was both sad and angry, "then why was he always with Sakura? Why did he not notice mom till it was to late? Why did he leave her on her own?!"

Kiba grabbed Bolt and pulled him aside, "Listen to me Bolt, I don't know why your dad did some of the things he did, but I could see what your mom saw in him. That's why she loved him, enough so even to die for him. I can't be the one she needs Bolt I'm nothing like Naruto, I'm just that guy who talks a big game and throws a few punches, your dad was the real deal Bolt. That's why your mom needs you and not me."

Bolt threw Kiba off him much to Kiba's surprise, "How will know if you don't even ask her?!" He yelled running to the Hyuga complex.

Kiba got up and ran after him, "Bolt wait!" When he got to the Hyuga complex he found Bolt staring blankly into the empty room. Bolt walked over to the bed and looked around and found it, his moms chakra tracer, she had made it in case Bolt ever needed to find her. He opened it and waited. "Dam I forgot I need Byakugan to see it it!" He yelled kicking the dresser. His anger triggered the chakra the Nine-tails had gave him suddenly even though he could not see the chakra he could sense it and the direction it was going.

Kiba looked at him awestruck, "Bolt how did you- but he was knocked out of the way when Bolt rushed passed him fallowing the chakra trail. Kiba got up again and ran after him again, whistling for Akamaru. When his loyal pet was with him they fallowed after Bolt as fast as they could. _"Dam it Bolt." _But at the same time he knew that had to rescue Hinata at all costs so he said nothing and the disappeared into the forest.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Power comes at a Price**

Bolt fallowed his mothers chakra simply by sensing it with the nine-tails chakra. Suddenly he hit an invisible barrier. "Ow what the hell?"

"I would not try passing that barrier if I were you." Said an unkown voice.

"Who the hell are you. For that matter where are?!" Bolt yelled.

"I'd suggest you calm down, I'm not anywhere visible, not even the Byakugan could detect where I'm at."

"I don't have time for this! Tell me how to get past this thing right now!"

The voice seemed to sigh, "fine, try running into it except use your head."

Bolt was not very bright and on top of it, all he could think about was saving his mom. So without giving it any thought at all he ran head first into the barrier, and to no surprise was out cold a few seconds later.

"Now that you will be taking a nap for a while perhaps you will listen to what I have to say?" Said the voice.

Bolts eyes shot open, he was no longer in the forest, everything around him was white and a few feet away there was an old man seemeanly floating in mid air. "Hey what gives?! Why did that barrier knock me out? You have 5 seconds to explain yourself old man before I beat the crap out of you!"

The man was unimpressed, "the reason is simple you were rushing to your death had I not put up that barrier you and your mother would have both died."

Bolt was really angry now, "do you even know what I can do old man?" He called on the chakra the nine-tails gave him and let his own chakra come to his finger tips. Then he let his chakra spin in his hands and lunged at the old man, "Gentle Fist Rasangan Barrage!" But right before he hit him all his chakra was drained and he fell to ground beneath him. "Wha-what the hell are you?"

"I see Kurama was kind enough to lend you his chakra, that's odd, he has always hated humans, I wonder what he saw in you?"

Bolt sat up but with his chakra drained that's all he could do, "he said it was repayment for not protecting my dad." Bolt scoffed.

"Ahhh you must mean Naruto Uzamaki."

Bolt frowned, "Ya that's him. Now I want to know who are you old man? And make it quick because once I wake up im rescuing my mom!"

"I suppose it won't do you much good giving you a history lesson so to be blunt I am the Sage of Six Paths."

"The who?"

The man sighed again, "I guess you do need a history lesson." So he explained the origin of chakra, how the tailed beasts came to be, and much of what happened in the last war. "...and the same enemy is planning to use your mother to achive Eternal Tysukiomy. That's why I stopped you becaus I can give you what you need to fight this person."

"Well hurry it up already! Every minute here my mom gets closer to dying!"

"You are impatient aren't you?" But he put his hand on a Bolts head and closed his eyes. "I warn you your going to feel some intense pain but when I'm done you will have gained a powerful tool."

"Just do it!" Bolt yelled. Chakra slowly began to transfer from the mans arm and into Bolt, suddenly his head was on fire, and his eyes were forced shut. It felt like his brain was going to explode, but what was worse was his eyes. His eyes kept switching between frosty chill and unbearable burning, his pupils almost shot out of his eye lids. "Aggggg!"

X-x

Bolt woke up, he was back in the forest he got up and looked around but something was different the chakra flow of his mothers he had been fallowing with the nine-tails chakra was somehow clearly visible, what's more he could see a great distance in front of him and he had almost a complete 360 degree view of his surroundings. "This is... He began

"Yes it is the Byakugan with this you will be able to fully use the abilities of the Hyuga as well as your own abilities. I can't be sure you will still win, but your odds have drastically increased. However there is a slight problem, since this Byakugan was an unnatural awakening, I can not say weather or not it will remain forever, so use it well."

The voice stopped talking after that and Bolt noticed the barrier was gone. "Heh thanks old man." As he countinued he realized how cool the Byakugan was he could see a bug from yards away. But what really got his attention was his moms chakra stopped at an entrench to a cave. Without hesitation he ran in and was suddenly attacked but weird white creatures. There were about four from what Bolt could tell and one grabbed onto him and began absorbing his chakra. "I don't think so asshole!" He brought his head slamming back into the creatures head. He let go of Bolt and Bolt quickly went on defense. Rembering how Henbi had done it during training he ultilized his chakra points and rotated as fast as he could however he added a little something of his own, "8 trigrams Rasangshuriken Revolution!" Along with the useaul barrier that formed around him, two Rasangshuriken's flew from his hands and with th added spin they flew like revolving UFO's around and around blasting his assailants to dust. When he caught his breath he said "dang I used to much chakra, I'll have to use Kurama's chakra when doing that. Once he recovered he ran further into the cave taking out one of those white things here or there. "Don't worry mom, no matter what I will save you!"

X-x

Hinata woke up and found she was in a large cavern, she was chained to a wall and there were fire lanterns lighting the area.

"Ahh so your awake." A voice said.

Hinata looked around and saw Black Zetsu entering from underground. "What do you want with me. Naruto-kun already beat your masters!"

Zetsu laughed, "haha they were simy pawns in my own game girl, unfortunately they could not even do that job right."

Hinata gasped, "but Naruto-kun."

"Died for nothing that's right girl, Eternal Tuskiomy well proceed as planned, but the reality of it is, is that is just a front for my mother to return." Hinata showed that she did not understand. "My mother is Kaguya!"

Hinata had heard that name before, the Hyuga clan was a long decendent of hers which is why they had the Byakugan. "But if you do that...

"Yes everyone who has ever come in contact with chakra will return it to my mother via the great free and will eventually die."

Hinata shook her head, "you don't have the tailed-beast chakra you can't bring the tree forth!"

"Again your wrong, look over there." He said pointing to the back of the cavern. Hinata looked and saw a large trunk with roots stretching below ground.

"H-how?"

"After your stupid boyfriend killed that fool Madara, once the ghost was clear I managed to extract the chakra from his body since he had only been dead for a few minutes. Granted it was not a lot so instead I adopted a plan where I would only act before the tree would bloom. That's where you come in miss Hyuga."

"What do you need me for? I'm nothing special I- I could not even save Naruto-kun." She said with a tear in her eye.

"Oh don't get me wrong, your just the bait, I wonder how your son reacted to your sudden disappearance?"

"No... You can't hurt Bolt-kun!" Hinata cried.

"Oh I won't I'll kill him after I extract his rather unique chakra."

"His wha?"

"Listen girl do you know how rare Uzamaki chakra is? The clan is nearly dead with survivers scattered here and there, now let's mix in some Hyuga chakra, that nearly tripled its value. Finlyn did you know that your son met with the Nine-tails? Yes in fact the beast even gave the boy some of his chakra. Once I offer him to the great tree the project will be complete and my mother shall return!" He stopped when the cave shook violently. Ahhh I see he has come, then about 20 or so white Zetsu appeared. "Make sure Bolt knows where he is going."

X-x

"Gentle Step Twin Lion Rasangan!" Bolt shouted incapacitating 2 more of those white creatures. "Dam what are these things?" He asked. Not that he really cared but they were getting annoying. Finally he came to a large open area of the cave and saw Hinata chained up. "Mom!"

Hinata looked up and yelled, "Bolt-kun run! He is after you!" However right as she said it the cave entrance collapsed and all that was left was do or die.

"Ahhh Bolt welcome, I trust you will enjoy your stay though you will be leaving very soon for the next life." Black zetusu came from behind Hinata and squeezed her cheeks together. Then a horde of those creatures came out of nowhere.

Seeing the his mom being treated like that made Bolts blood boil. "You asshole! Get your filthy hands off my mom!" He was about to lung but Zetsu made him stop.

"Ah ah ahhh, wouldn't want your precious mommy to get hurt would you?" Herpressed a pointed weapon made from his hand to Hinatas throat.

Bolt stopped in mid attack, "...you asshole..."

"Don't feel bad," he said waving to his fingers to tie him up, "I'm doing this for my mother you see. We have something in common, don't worry I'll make sure you and your mother are reunited and I'll even reunite you with your sad excuse of a father."

Bolt could do nothing as the things tied him down next to his mom, _"Don't worry mom I'll get us out of here."_ He thought.

Zetsu then noticed, "ahh so you have somehow obtained the Byakugan, would you care to tell me how?" Hinata gasped Bolts eyes were lavender and showed clear signs of the Byakugan.

"Bolt-kun how?"

But Bolt was concentrating, he activated Kurama's chakra and it burned through his bonds. Then he used the chakra in his plans and cut Hinatas bonds as well. "Sorry mom I'll tell Ya later first hold those white things while I kick that guys ass!"

But Hinata wanted to escape, "Bolt-kun let's leave please!"

"Mom I got to do this, if I don't he will just come back again, plus I said I would kick his ass and I never go back on my word! Cause that's my ninja way!"

Hinata looked at him but this time instead of seeing only Naruto, she saw her son Bolt in his own way, "Bolt-kun..."

She stood up and hugged him, "ok Bolt-kun but please be careful."

"Mom look out!"

But Hinata had it covered she swung around and kicked her attacker away. "Bolt-kun go I got these guys!"

"All right mom! I'll be back!"

X-x

Bolt turned to face Zetsu, "now I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Zetsu laughed, "I doubt that very much boy!" Suddenly tree roots came out of the ground and tried to make him a sescabob. Thanks to his Byakugan he was able to see them before they came up and avoided them easily.

"That won't work!" Bolt yelled. He lunged at Zetsu and punched him in the face. Zetsu staggered but then he knocked Bolt back with his free arm. "Ow!" Bolt yelled as he was thrown to the wall. Suddenly the cave shook. "What the heck is going on?" Bolt asked.

Zetsu laughed "haha looks like I did not even need you! In mere moments the God tree will make everyone on earth fall into a eternal slumber!"

Bolt looked at the huge trunk that stretched above ground. "So all I have to do is take out that thing eh? Thanks!"

"You are free to try!" White Zetsu came out of nowhere and attacked Bolt held them off but he was running out of time.

"Dam I'm almost out of chakra and time!"

"Although I was thinking if I did not have to kill you, I'd let you go into the dream world you always wanted, but now I kill you!" Zetsu yelled.

_"Dam this is my last chance, I'm going to try something!" _Bolt thought. "Shadow clone jutsu! The cave filled with clones and then they all synced with Kurama's chakra. Then They rotated as fast as they could, and called forth the wind chakra and shouted, "100 Palm Rotation Rasangshuriken Revolution!" The entire cave exploded and collapsed and one of the attacks hit black Zetsu,

"No I can't die here!" He yelled but faded into nothingness.

Bolt stopped spinning and looked around, he had avoided being crushed by the falling cave and saw that he had opened up a ceiling. He then saw that a large tree had toppled over. He suddenly remembered, "Mom!" He saw her knocked out but otherwise ok, he had made one of his clones shield her. _"Thank goodness." _He felt his heart give out and he fell and moved no more.

X-x

Hinata had been holding off the Zetsu clones while Bolt fought the real one when suddenly she saw the cave fill with Bolt clones. "Wha?" Then something pused her down and she hit her head and was out for the next few minutes. When she awoke her first thought was..."Bolt-kun! Bolt-kun where are you?!" She cried. Then to her horror she saw him face down in the rubble. "No..." She ran up to him and shook him. "Bolt-kun! Bolt wake up! Oh please wake up!" She tried cpr, then she tried slapping him gently, finally she listened to his heart beat. There was none. "No not again please not again! Bolt-kun don't leave me alone again!" She hugged her dead boys broken body and wished above all else she was dead as well. _"Why am I always left behind? Why do I remain while everything I love leaves me?" Bolt-kun Naruto-kun..."_ Then her mind snapped and she went into the waiting darkness...


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Love is also Pain**

By the time Kiba had caught up, he found an old cave completely in ruins with rubble everywhere. He looked around and saw to his surprise white Zetsu clones laying in defeat. Kiba was certain they had seen the last of those things in the war, seeing them now made no sense. However that was quickly pushed out of his mind when he saw Hinata and Bolt laying together in the ruins. "Bolt! Hinata!" He yelled and ran over to them. He felt Hinata's pulse first and found she was still alive but when he checked Bolt..."Oh god no. Not Bolt...DAM IT!" He burst into tears and started banging the ground with his fists. "Why does Hinata have to through this again?! Why must she suffer?! What's wrong with this world?! Why did Bolt have to die? He had seen much to live for! Are you hearing me NARUTO?!" Finally the ground broke beneath him and his anger ran out. For a few minutes he sat there and cried holding Bolts body in his arms. He called over Akamaru and made a make shift sled from the fallen tree. Then he gently placed the boy on it, telling Akamaru to carefully bring him back to the village. After his loyal friend left, he went over and gently picked up Hinata, "Hinata..." He said looking down at her. "I am so sorry, I could not do anything!" As a tear drooped from his face he looked at her beautiful face it almost seemed like she was sleeping. _"No I can't the one she loves... It isint me." _He thought. The. He carried her back to the village. The thunder boomed and the rain came down. _"It's just like that day..."_

When he arrived at the village everyone was waiting and by the look on their faces, most of the water was not from the downpour. Then Sakura came up holding a body covered in a blanket, "would you care to explain this?" She pulled back the cover and Kiba once again saw Bolts lifeless face. Kiba just pushed past her trying not to look at her.

"Kiba." He felt Shino grab his shoulder and he stopped.

"I don't know! I did not make it in time! He was...already gone when I got there..."

"What about Hinata?"

"She fainted, most likely from shock. Now leave me I need to get her to the hospital!" He forced Shino to let go and ran ignoring everyone's shouts. He got the hospital and Tsunade came down herself to look her over. Kiba sat in the lobby while he waited for any news at all. It was only a few minutes when everyone else came in drenched to the skin.

Sakura came over and pleaded with him, "Please Kiba tell us what you know."

Kiba was disgusted that she would even think of asking him that question, "what the hell do you care?! You rejected Naruto, then you tried to take him from Hinata only to satisfy yourself till your traitor ass boyfriend came back and then to top it all off, you have the audacity to say you care now?! What is wrong with you?!"

Sasuke hated people talking to Sakura like that so he walked up and punched Kiba in the face. While he was catching his breath Sasuke said calmly but you could hear the anger in his voice, "This is not Sakura's fault so don't act like it is."

Kiba got to his feet, "Ya you know what? It's only half her fault, your the biggest culprit! If Naruto had not been so focused on saving your pathetic ass Hinata would have had at least more time with him! Maybe he might even still be alive!"

Sasuke looked at him straight in the eye and finally he looked down, "your right." Then saying it louder he addressed everyone in the room, "I'm the reason Naruto is dead, it's because of me that he did not get the time he deserved with Hinata. I'm the reason he liked Sakura and never saw Hinata for who she was untill it was to late. If you must be angry, if you must hate someone, hate me! But please leave Sakura alone." Then he did something no one would have expected he fell to his knees and was essentially begging Kiba.

Kiba kicked him in the face and watched with a little satisfaction as he rammed into the wall. Sakura gasped and ran over and kneeled next to him holding his head, "you 2 are perfect for each other." Kiba said smugly. "You made one boys life who was already miserable from the start, into a complete hell hole. You!" He said pointing at Sakura, "you rejected the love and affection he had for you regardless of if it was the same way as he felt for Hinata, no matter what he did for you or how far he went to get acknowledged by you, the only thing you cared about..." He turned and pointed at Sasuke, "...was him! Let's not forget he tried to kill you, he tried to kill Naruro, and he would have tried to kill us! How could you love someone like that when you had Naruto?! And the whole time Hinata had to suffer while you two played with Naruto's heart like it was some sort of object! Now Hinata has lost not only that, but now she has lost her son and you still have nothing to offer but the pain she has already gone through!"

Sasuke rubbed his head and sat up then he looked away from Kiba, the man had always looked people in the eye, but now Sasuke could not do it it felt as if Kiba had his own Sharingan staring at him, "your right we don't deserve to even offer any condolences, however Naruto was my best friend, I loved him like a brother and it was my own foolishness that blinded me so I'll not ask for anything for myself, but I do ask that you let Sakura stay. She lovedBolt like her own son and I never admitted it but I did as well, she wanted to make amends with Naruto by somehow connecting with Bolt, please don't take that away from her.

Kiba was about to say something more but Shino stopped him, "That's enough Kiba, if we start to give in to the hate we all feel, then Naruto and Bolt will have died for nothing! Is that what you want?!" This was only the second time anyone had seen Shino angry, and it made everyone stand in shock.

"What hell Shino?!" Kiba yelled. "Are you taking their side? Look what they did!"

"It's not just them Kiba, we all hated Naruto at one time, that's what makes this even worse, none of us have a right to talk to Hinata, because she was the only one that truly loved him." Everyone turned to see that Ino had managed to say what had been on all their minds the whole time, and Kiba knew that was really what was bothering him. Sai held her in his arms and spoke,

"I know I came into this group long after I knew about any of this, I did not have any emotions, but Naruto, he made me realize just how much love can do. We need to stop this petty fuad and support Hinata or just go dig our own graves next to his."

Then it was Tenten's turn, "do you guys know the real reason why Neji died?" Everyone turned to look at her, " he cared more about Hinata's happiness then his own life. He sacrificed himself to ensure not only that Naruto would always stay by her side, but also to show just how much Hinata loved him. If the time came could any of us have done that?" Afterwards they sat in silence for the longest time but the tears were there, in reality they all blamed themselves for Narutos and Bolts death, they knew they were the cause of his suffering and the thought made them want to puke. They even all fell asleep in that lobby and waltier till the morning which did not let the sun come out.

X-x

"Oh my gosh. Quick! Get someone from Yamanaka clan in here now! Her mind is going into over shock!" Tsunade yelled. Applying advanced soothing ninjutsu on Hinata's forehead. One of the nurses ran out and saw Ino asleep in the lobby, "miss Ino!" Ino's eyes blinked awake she and Sai had picked a corner and she had fallen asleep in his lab while he had tried to draw something but was soon out cold as well. "Miss Ino! We need you in miss Hyuga's room right away!"

Ino forced herself awake and said, "Sakura is a more qualified medical ninja shouldn't she-

"Miss Hyuga is not damaged physically, but her mind is on the verge of collapse!" Ino jumped to her feet and woke up Sakura.

"No time to explain we need to go now!" Ino said. The nurse did not object to Sakura's coming they ran back to the room as fast as they could.

"Oh good Ino! Thank goodness you slept overnight! I need you to try keeping Hinata's mind together while I seal the chakra flow of her emotions." Tsunade said.

"But won't that keep her from feeling anything like Sai?"

"It will only be temporary while she can take the loss of Bolt without going insane! Just do it Ino! Sakura help me with her chakra flow!"

Ino did not like this at all but she had no choice, she held onto Hinata and dived into her mind, what she found was worse then any nightmare. Hinata's mind was like a puzzle with many of the pieces missing and the memories were disoriented and misplaced. What was worse is that they were either about Naruto or herself and she saw they had both been rejected unfairly. _"Hinata...so behind that loving face this is what you were hiding?" _She got to work pieceing the memories together as best she could but something was terribly wrong. She was not alone inside Hinata's mind.

Suddenly she was thrown aside and a voice said "no! You won't take Naruto-kun and Bolt-kun away from me!"

Ino looked around and saw that Hinata in her state of mind had somehow made her minds essence into a type of being that she guessed was some type of guard. "Hinata I'm oh trying to help you please listen to me!" Ino said.

But Hinata or rather Hinata's mind would have none of it, "no your trying to take the people I love away from me again! Get out! Get out of my head!" She attacked Ino relentlessly.

_"Dam I can't do anything with her like this! I'm sorry Hinata!"_ Ino caught the girls hands and managed to knock her out by head butting her. Well what it really did is stand there for a moment and fadeed back into the debths of her mind. She felt Hinata waking up. _"Crap I hope I got most of her mind out together!" _She got out of there before Hinata even knew she was there. However when she was back in her own body she wished she had not come I. The room in the first place. "Umm Lady Tsunade? Sakura?" They were both holding their mouths with tears in their eyes and Sakura said,

"Oh god what happened?"

Ino looked to see Hinata was sitting straight up with a curious look on her face and she was blushing then she spoke,

"U-ummm why are you three in mine and Naruto-Kuns room?"

X-x

Kiba woke up and the first thing he did was rush to Hinata's room. When he got there Tsunade was drinking a large bottle of sake and Ino and Sakura were holding each other crying. "Let me see her!" He demanded.

Tsunade stopped drinking, "your not going to like what you see."

"I don't care! Just let me see her dam it!"

Tsunade slapped him but then put her hands on his shoulders, "Listen Kiba there are just some things we can't change."

Kiba had enough, he pushed her away and forced the door open, what he saw at first confused him, Hinata was in an apron and appeared to be just standing in the middle of the room. She then noticed that Kiba was there. "Oh! Kiba-kun it's rude not to knock you know."

Kiba took a step back, "uhh Ya sorry about that Hinata but ummm are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Now he was reat confused, "Hinata I don't know if you know this but Bolt died yesterday."

Hinata laughed, "oh Kiba-kun you and Naruto-kun are both really bad at jokes isint that right dear?"

To Kiba's shock he saw her walk over and seemeanly hug air. "Uh Hinata who are you talking to? And what are you doing?"

"Silly Kiba is it not ok for me to hug my husbend? Oh and look here comes Bolt-kun!" She went over to the bed and picked up the pillow then gave it a hug and kissed it. "How is my Bolt-kun? I love you more then anything! Oh except you Naruto-kun!" she said suddenly embarrassed. It then looked as if she were trying to calm a fight between two invisible fighters, eventually she hugged the pillow and the air and said, I love you both ok? Please don't fight!"

Kiba could not take it anymore he ran up and held Hinata's shoulders tightly, "Hinata there is no one there! Naruto and Bolt are dead!"

Hinata was frightened and she said, "Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun will get angry if you don't let me go."

That made Kiba hold on tighter, "Hinata please snap out of it! I love you!"

For some reason Hinata suddenly got very strong, she pulled one of her arms free and slapped Kiba as hard as she could, but she was not angry she was just scared. "Kiba-kun you must not say that, I love Naruto-kun, he is my husbend and Bolt-kun is my son. I-I think you should leave!" She ran to the corner where she thought Naruto's open arms were waiting to shield her.

Kiba got to his feet and with tears in his eyes he tried getting closer but Hinata just inched away with her eyes closed, holding on to her imagery husbend. "Hinata please I love you, I've always loved you, and I was happy that you had Naruto and Bolt, that's why I never said anything before. But seeing you like this, I can't hold it back anymore! Please Hinata I'm not Naruto but let me protect you!"

Hinata with as much force as she could muster which was not a lot said in a trembling voice, "please Kiba-kun don't come here again."

Kiba's heart shattered he tried to touch her but she moved away yet again. He did not know what to do, so he simply walked out of the room and closed the door. He looked to Tsunade, "Please tell me she is just in a genjutsu."

Tsunade shook her head, "if it were only just that, no I'm afraid the loss of both Naruto and Bolt was just too much for her to bear, she now only sees what she wants to see, for all we know, maybe forever." After she repeated the story to the rest of the group, no one not even Sasuke had the heart to enter that room. Tsunade contacted the Hyuga and they said they would escort her home when she was safely asleep. Then everyone left to drown in their sorrows for Kiba though it was more then that.

X-x

Kiba tied the robe firmly to the branch the. He brought a chair, his faveorit drink and sat there staring off into the night for a while. His thoughts were more organized then he thought but most of all he just thought about Hinata. _"Maybe if I had..._ But he punched himself, he knew Hinata would never have loved him even if he had confessed sooner. Naruto gave her strength, something he could not. His thoughts turned to Shino, the guy was always moody but Kiba could not have asked for a better teammate he always kept them on track. _"Heh I could always goof off because he had my back, guess that's one less thing he will have to worry about."_ Then finally as he climbed the tree he thought of Naruto, _"Naruto...I loved her too, but you were always on her mind. I could never replace that. No matter what world or time Hinata would always pick you over me. But seeing her like this, I can't be strong like you. So forgive me for this finale selfish act." _ There was a a quiet noise of a branch bending and an almost inaudible noise of bones cracking and Kiba's eyes shined reflecting the starlight over looking the village he had met her in, and despite everything he had a smile on his face and a single tear dropped to the ground far below him.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: What the Heart wants the Mind Gives**

"Oh Naruto-kun please don't leave! Can't you take one day off and be with me?" Hinata said. In her mind she saw Naruto standing right there in her room, but in reality all she was talking to was thin air. "Oh Bolt-kun! Help me make your dad stay home today!" She said to her pillow.

Hashi could not stand it, "Oh my Hinata, my poor daughter." For the first time sinc his wife died Hashi Hyuga felt heart ache that he could only describe as chest pains. Finally he managed to knock on the door. "Hinata? May I come in?"

"Oh! One minute father!" She quickly got dressed and opened the door. "Y-yes father?"

Hashi cleared his throat, "would you like to come with me to lunch today? Henbi would also like your company."

Hinata hesitated, "U-umm but Naruto-kun was going to stay home today..."

Hashi knew he had to play this extremely delecetly, "ahh yes well, you see I just got an importnt letter from the Hokage and it seems Naruto is needed for the annule Kasakage meeting, he and Lord Gaara do go back after all." He handed he a fake mission assignment, with his power and influence making a fake misson was not hard but he would have to pay it back at some point.

Hinata took the scroll and looked it over and saw that it was indeed a signed order from Tsunade and she pouted, "oh fine, Naruto-kun let me make you a nice bento before you go ok?"

She started to walk to the kitchen when Hashi said, "So Hinata about that lunch?"

Hinata smiled, "you may have got rid of Naruto-kun but me and Bolt-kun will gladly go! See you later!" And she skipped off to the kitchen.

Hashi curse his luck, he had been hoping if maybe he could get Hinata away from her illusions she might come back to reality, but as it stood she would not leave them without a fight. However at least with her "Naruto" away that have him something to work with. The first step he decided was to convince Hinata that Naruto had died years ago in the war. Man that put a bad taste in his mouth, she had been devastated by his death enough to nearly reject her own son, Hashi would have to hope even if it hurt her that it would help her as well. He walked into the kitchen to find Hinata hurriedly making a bento that no one was going to eat, and it was so gorgeous too. Rice and egg rolls for a appatizer, then there were little cut up pieces of fish and beef, and some steamed vegetables and to finish it all off she added just a sprinkle of exspensive spices and wrapped the little box in a bow. It nearly drove the man to tears, his daughters love and dedication to Naruto was something he had only seen in his own wife. Then he realized something, "you know what Hinata? I'll ask Tsunade to find someone else you go ahead and enjoy your day with Naruto and Bolt."

Hinata looked up beaming, "Really father you would do that?"

"Ya its most likely boring paper work that Naruto would not like anyway, just leave it to-

He was caught by surprise when Hinata hugged him, "I love you Dady!"

Hashi knew that the term "Dady" was improper edicate for a Hyuga but at that moment he did not care he pushed back the tears and embraced his daughter, "I- I love you too Hinata." Then Hinata kissed his head and skipped off to tell "Naruto" the good news. But she came back after a few minutes,

"U-umm father me and Naruto and Bolt were thinking of moving to Naruto's old apartment so we can have a pace of our own."

Hashi was pulls back to reality, he knew he could not let Hinata live on her own but he could not just up and tell her she could not move out, his brain worked like a maniac trying to figure something out. "Ahh! No need for that Hinata! You see we recently needed to expand the complex since the village is also expanding so I'll have the workers build you Naruto and Bolt your own house right here! How's that sound? You could not very live well in that tiny apartment with the three of you right?"

Hinata had really hoped to get away from the servents and the always busy Hyuga complex but what he said made sense, plus "they" were short on money so they could not afford anything else.

"Ok but it will just be till me and Naruto-kun can buy our own place ok?"

As much as it pained Hashi he was also relieved, he knew that in her current state she would never have the finaces to leave but he hated trapping her here at the same time. He nodded and she left. Then he heared Henbi's voice, "father, what are you doing?"

Hashi turned around and looked her finally letting the tears flow, "Henbi I can't do it, if we try bringing her out of her state, what's going to be waiting for her? She lost the only person that have her strength, then she lost her son. The only thing waiting for her beyond what her mind sees is death and despare. If she is to come out of this, she has to do it on her own, till then at least she is happy safe and most importantly alive..." Then Hashi Hyuga did something no one had ever seen except when his wife died, he cried. He cried for his wife, he cried Hinata, and punished himself for all the wrong he had did to them both. As for Henbi all she could do was let her own tears go and weep with her father.

X-x

Shikamaru finally had a day to himself, Tamari had been all over him the past few days even yesterday when they had found out about Hinata's condition. Now Shikamaru was no expert in the field of ones mind but he still tried thinking of a wayche might help he dead friend's girl. Since they had never officially got married Shikamaru did not really know how else to addess Hinata so he just stuck with what he had. Then he suddenly heard a screem and rushed to see what the problem was. He found himself atop the Hokage mountain where he soon found Ino and she had appeared to have fallen onto her back and say up, "Ino what's wrong?!" Ino's face had both horror and sadness in it, tears were falling like rain as she pointed at what she saw. Shikamaru looked and said, "Dear god not you too." Kiba was swinging in the wind he had hung himself at the right angle to overlook the village and his eyes stared off into the distance. Shikamaru stayed as calm as possible fighting back his own emotions, "Ino...please go get Lady Tsunade and bring Shino as well."

"Wha-what about Hinata?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "she is already broken we can't risk her ever knowing or we might trigger something worse." Ino understood she got up slowly and headed for the Hokage office. Shikamaru walked around to look at Kiba, for some reason the poor fool still had a grin on his face. _"When will it end Naruto? Even after you saved us all from our hate, death and pain still remain. Maybe the reason...is that you were what held us together all along."_ He thought. Then taking a seat under a different tree he looked between Kiba and his gaze hoping he might be able to see what Kiba saw, but nothing came to mind. After a while to Shikamarus somewhat discomfort Sasuke arrived.

"I saw him with my Sharingan." Shikamaru just grunted. Sasuke sat next to him, "you and I have never exactly been close but I wanted to know what your thinking, of everyone your the only one who has not said anything to me, and you don't talk to Sakura that much."

Shikamaru sighed, "what i think is irrelevant, what happened happened trying to change it would just be a drag."

"Hm you sound so sure but I wonder if it's not bottled up hatred for me?"

Shikamaru turned to face him, "I can't say I ever liked you, nor did I care much for anything you did, to me you were simply another rouge nothing more." He signed again, "To be honest I simply don't know what to think anymore, I always have relied on thinking to get me out of situations. However these sort of things I can't wrap my mind around like some equation. Tamari tells me I think too much, maybe she is right, but I think that's what keeps me from just letting myself go somewhere I should not. I avenged Asuma-sensei and though his miler lies deep beneath the earth, I still wish I could sometimes go there and kill him for what he did. I guess none of us will ever fully understand what it is Naruto wanted."

"Do you blame me for his death? I failed to protect him and I tried to kill him myself, so why not kill me?"

Shikamaru was silent for a moment, in truth he did not know what he wanted so he answered, "What would I gain from it? Satisfaction maybe? Or perhaps Hinata might somehow come back to she was? No, Sasuke I simply don't care about you or what part you played or did not play in Naruto's death. Because if I did, it would go against my nature and it would be meaningless, if Naruto or anyone else wanted you dead, even if you are as powerful as you claim, we all saw Naruto fall that day. The onl thing I care about is making sure that it was not in vain and if that means learning to accept you then although it's a drag I'll do it for his sake." He stood up and offered Sasuke a hand.

Sasuke accepted and said, "you know Naruto was the only person who I ever called a friend, but if in time your willing Id be glad to to do the same for you."

"There is a long road for that to happen but for Naruto I'm willing to try to see what he saw in you."

X-x

By the time Tsunade and Shino got there, Sasuke and Shikamaru had managed to take the body down and cover it up. When Shino saw it he walked over to the tree and punched it as hard as he could. "Dam that idiot!" He fell to his knees and just stared at the tree his gaze unmoving. Tsunade reached in her pocket for her small ration of sake but decided not to. They did not say anything but gently took Kiba down the hill and got him ready to be buried with Bolt the next day.

Hinata meanwhile for all purposes was haveing the time of her life, "Oh Naruto-kun don't tease me like that!" She pouted. She was just taking about random things with her imagenary lover just off in her own little world. The. She noticed that the be to she made was still untouched. "Naruto-kun if you only eat ramen your going to make yourself sick!" She picked up the little box and took out the chopsticks and offered it to "him." When it dropped out of her hands she shook it off and said, "Tha-that's ok I'll feed you!" She then tried lifting the chopsticks to "his" mouth only to have the food drop to the floor. "Na-Naruto-kun?" The. To her horror he disappeared. "Naruto-kun?!" She looked for him frantically then she saw Bolt on the bed. "Oh Bolt-kun have you seen- but she almost fell over as he vanished as well. "Bolt-kun? Naruto-kun? Where are you? Please come back, I miss you!" She searched the complex begging everyone if they had seen them. Nobody knew what to say so they just stood there looking at each other. Finally she made it back to her room. "Bolt-kun...Naruto-kun...please come out this is not funny anymore." She started to look in the oddest of places, she tore the closet open, she wracked the dressers. The. She countinued on to the bathroom where she broke the shower curtain and headed off to the kitchen pulling out dishes and letting them break on the floor as she searched the confines. All the while as if in a daze she was saying, "Naruto-kun...Bolt-kun...Naruto-kun...:Bolt-kun..." Then Hashi walked in and saw the terrible sight before him, he grabbed Hinata's shoulders and said,

"Hinata what happened?"

She started to cry, "I can't find Naruto-kun or Bolt-kun anywhere! I know they were just here!"

Hashi thought fast, "it's ok Hinata, I'm sure they- he stopped when he saw the dark look on Hinatas face

"Father...Bolt-kun and Naruto-kun are dead aren't they?" She made him let go and slowly turned and walked out of the room. Hashi tried to speak but was silenced, "no I can live in a dream anymore, just leave me be please." Not even shedding a tear she closed her door and all was still.

Hinata decided that she would go to the funeral, it was the least she could do for poor Kiba, Hinata had a fully known for sometime about his feelings for her, but she had hoped that if he saw how devoted she was to Naruto he would leave her be. Now that he too was gone Hinata wished she had not. Maybe since Naruto was gone she and Kiba might have worked but now she would never know. She did not let anyone see her she just stood behind a tree and watched the proceedings. Then she felt tears in her eyes as she saw her little Bolt covered in Narutos old orange jacket smiling peacefully and also saw Kiba had that stupid grin still glued to his face. "_Oh Naruto-kun what have I done?" _After everyone left she sat by the graves for awhile. Then fit she decided, _"I'll be back soon. Wait for me."_ She went home got a a pen and paper and began to write.

_"To everyone, these are my final words, I know I'm being selfish doing this to you, but I'll just cause you more burdens if I stay. Sakura you were always a good friend as was Ino and Tenten, the times we spent together can't be replaced ever. I will always treasure them. Shino, please understand that I loved being on team 8 with you and Kiba, I know I made you two do AoT of the work and I'm so sorry I was not as much help, but Shino you will always be one of my closet friends. Shikamaru, I know we never talked much but give my regards to Lee and Choji, you were all so caring as well. Then father and Henbi, father I'm sorry I was not a worthy heir please forgive me I tried my best but without Naruto-kun there was no reason for me to try anymore. As for you Henbi, I'm sorry I forced the responsibility of the clan on you but you will be a great clan head. Finally Sasuke, I can't say I forgive you, maybe I never will, but I know that Naruto-kun cared about you more then anyone else, you were his brother, friend and teammate, and although I can't forgive you, I release you from your guilt because Naruto died a hero and the man I loved. So everyone I love you all!_

_Hinata._

She folded the letter and put it on her desk and quietly snuck out and headed for the Hokage mountain.

X-x

Hashi was not a very good cook he had hoped to make something special for Hinata in the hopes to cheer her up but had almost burned the house down. So he had went and bought some take out from a fancy restaurant and made it look nice on one of the dishes that was not broke. He knocked on Hinatas door, "Hinata? I got you some food. Please I must insist that you eat just a little, I don't want to have to force you." But there was silence. "Hinata? Please open the door." He tried turning the nob but found it locked. "Hinata open this door right now!" Hashi said it more out of fear then anything else he just remembered he had forgot to assign her a guard. Finally he dropped the plate and broke the door down. Hinata was no where in site, then he saw the paper on her desk. He did not even bother reading more the. A few sentences before rushing out the door telling everyone on hand to look for her. Soon the whole village was frantically searching until,

"Master Hashi! I see her!" One of his personal gaurds had spotted her with his Byakugan he looked in his direction and ran as fast as he could. Hinata was on the edge of the 4th Hokage face, why she choose the 4th? It was most likely cause he was Narutos father. He was soon joined by sakura, Ino, Tenten and the rest of her classmates. Hinata looked down and saw all of them below her, but there was no turning back now.

"Please don't do this Hinata!" Sakura yelled.

"There is still more to live for Hinata!" Ino shouted

Everyone was saying something similar but she shook her head, _"no without Naruto-kun and Bolt-kun I can't live anymore; they gave me strength I need them please everyone forgive me." _She pulled the kunei from her pouch and taking a deep breath brought it to her heart if it could really be called a heart anymore. The poor thing had shriveled up to nothing any one could have recognized a long time ago. As she fell to the ground below the last thing she heard was. "HINATA!"


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: No More Waiting

She heard a voice call out to her, "Hinata! Hinata!" "I must be dreaming." She thought. But if she was dead, was it possible to dream? Hinata did not know. She had hoped that after she was dead she would be with Naruto and Bolt, but all around her was a dark empty world, she did even know what she was standing on but it felt cold and hard. She sat down and brought her knees to her face and cried, "Naruto-kun Bolt-kun, if I could only have one more chance with you..."

"Well that depends on you." Said a voice.

Hinata looked up and saw an old man floating in mid air sitting cross legged, "who are you and what do you mean?" She asked.

"I see Bolt never told you how he got his Byakugan, as you know it's not something one can awaken, you are either born with it or you are not. So knowing that he was going into a battle with a far superior opponent, who would have awkend Kaguya if he was victorious, I gave Bolt what he needed to fight."

"B-but how could you just give him a Byakugan?"

"It's actually quite simple, I am the sage of 6 Paths. Conjuring up a Kekkei Genkai is not too difficult as long as the person has some of the prober bloodline in them." He said referring to the Hyuga bloodline.

Hinata shook her head, "It does not matter anymore, he and Naruto-kun both died anyway, and all that's left for me is this empty place."

"Oh? Now why would you think that?"

"I'm dead too aren't i?"

The man leaned back, "as I said, that really depends on you, why do you think you are in an empty place instead of like Hevean or Hell? It does not make a lot of sense does it?"

"But nobody knows what's after death!"

"I find that a bit difficult to think you believe that, you have seen and spoke with reanamated ninja I'm sure?"

"Yes but-

"One in particular I believe you know personally, although his reanamation was a little different, Kakashi I believe it was?" Hinata nodded. "He did not seemed all that concerned about risking his life again, and anyone who would end up in this place would be very catious don't you think?"

"S-so your saying this is not real?"

"Again that depends on you, you can either stay here or..."

"Hinata! Hinata!" The other voice said again this time it was louder. Hinata looked around at the man but found he was gone,

"...or you could try seeing what that yelling is." He was silent after that.

Hinata stood up and first thing she did was yell back, "I'm here! Please I'm right here! Naruto-kun!"

X-x

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata woke up with a start and nearly head butted Naruto, who had been shaken her for sometime now. When she saw it was him she could not believe her eyes. She reached out and touched his face, "Naruto-kun is it really you?" She explored his face with her hand then to his discomfort she tried slamming her water glass down his throat to see if it fell to the ground or not. Needless to say it did but only after he coughed and weezed it up.

"Geese Hinata what's gotten in to you?" He said panting.

There was no doubt in her mind anymore, this was her Naruto-kun alive and well. She flung back her bed covers and threw herself on him to both his surprise and pain as his head hit the ground. She kissed him with all she had never wanting to stop and her tears flowed as she did. Then finally managing to let go she held on on to him as he sat up and noticed her tears, "hey what's wrong Hinata?" He asked and stroked her hair.

"N-Naruto-kun I thought I lost you! You were dead, and Bolt-kun and Kiba were..." She explained everything that had happened in the past 10yrs and Naruto laughed. "Hey what's so funny?" Hinata said tighting her grip around him.

With a little trouble breathing he said, "Hinata it was all a genjutsu, a dream, a lie, whatever you want to call it."

She loosened her grip and looked up at him, "but-"

He her face in his hand and she purred a little, "Hinata, I promise you I'm not going anywhere. I love you more then life itself!"

Hearing those words reassured her of everything, she held his hand to her face and he leaned in and kissed her once they parted she ou her arms around his head and said, "stay with me Naruto-kun...stay with me forever."

Naruto had his arms around her and he was again stroking her long midnight hair, "i will Hinata..." Before they knew what they were doing they had each other's clothes off and after sometime they were asleep, staying as close to each other as possible on Hinata's small hospital bed.

X-x

The next day, they were glad they woke up early cause trying to explain why they choose to have sex not only in a hospital but also right after Hinata had come out of a powerful genjutsu would not have been pleasent, especially since Sakura was the nurse on call. When see came in they were both dressed and just sitting on the bed hands locked. Sakura could see the redness in their faces and said, "Naruto...did you take advantage of Hinata's condition?"

Hinata came to Naruto's defense, "Sa-Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun would never take advantage of me!" Though she was secretly thinking that she would not care if he did. She loved him to much to care about so something like that, besides she had already given herself to him anyway.

Sakura sighed, "I can't tell if you love him to much or if your just as perverted as he is Hinata."

Hinata's face could have heated the room with the heat it was giving off and Naruto did not fail to notice, "Hey Sakura! That's not nice. Hinata was just defending me is all!" He pulled Hinata's head to his chest to hide her embarressment but when he felt the heat he nearly took off his jacket.

Sakura laughed, "I know dumb ass, I just like seeing you get all protective of her when she goes red like that!"

Naruto grinned, "is that so? Maybe I should call Sasuke in here and maybe we could see how red your face can get!"

Sakura turned a shade of red just at the words, "ohhhh! She threw a clipboard that hit Naruto square in the face causing him to let go of Hinata who squeeked in shock applying some medical Jutsu to his head at once. "There is her release forms you jerk!" And she stomped off without another word.

Naruto rubbed his head, "owe Hinata, please make sure I don't piss off Sakura like that again ok? Or you might have to fix more then my face next time."

"Hinata sighed in relief, "I see you two are getting along again." But as she said it she got nervous at the thought of him leaving her for Sakura again and Naruto clued in on that as well, he sat up and hugged her,

"Hinata, your the one I love, you don't ever have to worry about that ever again."

Hinata could not hold back her tears of joy and she wrapped her arms around once more, "I love you Naruto-kun!" After they held one another for a while they checked out of the hospital and decided to go get some ramen. "By the way Naruto-kun, is the war over? And how did I end up in a genjutsu?"

Naruto's face darkened a little bit, "you tried to sacrifice yourself for me again... After that Madara used his Sharingan and with a hard knock to your head you were out for the rest of the fight. Then thinking you were dead I...I let Kurama rampage... I did not have a choice I was out of it and Kurama had to take over. But he was not enough to take Madara without me. Then somehow I sensed your chakra, and suddenly I felt so angry that anyone would dare hurt you, so I took control back from Kurama and with his own sword I... I cut him Hinata. I cut him into little tiny pieces, Kakashie-sensei had to drag me off him for me to stop. When I realized what I was doing I was covered in his blood and he was no longer recognizable. I was at least happy you did not see me like that."

Naruto nearly feel over but Hinata caught him and supported him, "Naruto-kun...no matter what you did or what you do, you did it for me, I could never hate you for that." She said touching his cheek.

Naruto burst into tears and hugged her, "please Hinata don't ever put yourself in danger for me again! I could not live with myself if something happened to you!"

Hinata gasped at his affection and protectiveness she hugged him back and ran her hand along his hair, "if that's what you want Naruto-kun."

Naruto rubbed his eyes, "plus Neji would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

Hinata's face lit up, "is Neji...?"

Naruto knew what she was thinking and pulling her close he said, "I'm sorry Hinata, that really happened."

Hinata knew she was only fooling herself, she knew that she could not have everything, but she at least had Naruto, but that did not not stop the pain, "oh Naruto-kun!" She buried her face in his chest and wept and all Naruto could do was stroke her long midnight hair and hold her close to his heart,

"I will never leave you Hinata, I swear on Neji's grave I won't." Then for the fourth time that day they kissed in the setting sun the wind blowing in the breeze.

X-x

After a few months Narjto finally got the guts to propse to Hinata and after surprising Hashi that Hinata was pregnant he could not exactly say no, but he did a fair amount of grumbling. One day while out shopping Hinata saw Kiba leaning against a tree doing nothing in particular he waved when he saw her. "Hey Hinata! So you finally got that loser to notice Ya huh?"

Hinata blushed a little bit but remembered she had to tell him something, "U-uh Kiba-kun I, you see I wanted to say-

Kiba stopped her by hugging her, "Hinata the only thing I care about is your happiness, I do love you but not the way you think. I love seeing you happy, I love the joy that you bring everyone you meet. I love you for who you are as if you were my own sister. You saw the same thing in Neji. That's all I ever cared about."

Hinata hugged him back but she saw a tear fall from his eye and knew he was not being completely honest. She leaned up and kissed his forehead. "Kiba-kun thank you."

With a heavy heart she let go of him and walked away, and Kibe held back his tears as she walked away. Akamaru whimpered, "it's ok boy, we will still see her around! Besides we got to make sure that punk Naruto treats her right!" they headed off to find Shino to annoy him like useal, and years later Kiba would find the person he could spend his life with as well, but no matter what, there was always a place in his heart for Hinata, and though she only told it to Naruto and Kureni-sensei, she felt the same.

Naruto was at first a little jelous but he realized that Kiba and Neji, Kiba before Neji for that matter, had done the same for her as she had done for him. Always supported and loved her no matter what. So he told Hinata,"Hinata if I let myself be mad about that, I'd have to stop loveing you because you did the same for me." They did not talk about it any further because they had an understanding.

Preparations were made and on that day Naruto stood nervously wanting more then anything not to be in the stupid clothes he was in while everyone he knew was watching. However then Hinata came walking towrds him and the sight of her him forget everything else, it was as if a goddess had decended upon him, she wore a pure white kameino and her hair had a single flower through it. It was so simple but it was just perfect. "N-Naruto-kun don't stare!" She said blushing. Naruto noticed that everyone was staring he swore he saw Sakura punch Sasuke for looking at the beauty before them. Suddenly he had an idea,

"Hinata come here!" He said quietly. Hinata had no idea what he was thinking but he pulled her close and said in her ear, "now hold on to me." She did and then Naruto used a new trick he had worked on, "Mutlable Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The room was filled with clones of himself and Hinata and everyone was caught off guard. They all ran out different exsists and everyone fallowed them trying to find the real ones. However they were long gone by then. By the time they reached the old cabin they had made for themselves before the war it was already dark out. Naruto held Hinata bridle style and walked to the Water Fall of Truth. Then setting her down on the little island between the waterfall and mainland he looked her in her beautiful lavender eyes, "Hinata I love you and I want to be with you now untill the day I die and if you still love me the same let me know but if not I understand because I made you wait so long."

The joy Hinata was experiencing could not be described so she said, "Naruto-kun I can't love you the same as before..." Naruto looked up hoping it was not true, but Hinata held his face, "Because now I love you more then I ever did before!" She kissed him and the moon rose high in the night sky and shined down on them and as they kissed they both thought the same thing,

"I love you!"

The End

Ten years later Bolt would return to the scene along with a his little sister Himawari. Naruto became Hokage and always kept in touch with Skaura and Sasuke. But what he looked forward to the most in his day was not going back to an empty apartment. Now he came back and he heard the one person he loved more then anything in the world say, "welcome home Naruto!"


End file.
